| General Risks: Past performance is not a guide to future performance and Shares, other than Shares ofLiquidity Funds, should be regarded as a medium to long-term investment. The value of investments and the income generated by them may go down as well as up and Shareholders may not get back the amount originally invested. Where the currency of a Fund varies from the Investor’s home currency, or where the currency of a Fund varies from the currencies of the markets in which the Fund invests, there is the prospect of additional loss (or the prospect of additional gain) to the Investor greater than the usual risks of investment. Investment Objective Risk: Investment objectives express an intended result but there is no guarantee that such a result will be achieved. Depending on market conditions and the macro economic environment, investment objectives may become more difficult or even impossible to achieve. There is no express or implied assurance as to the likelihood of achieving the investment objective for a Fund. Regulatory Risk: The Company is domiciled in Luxembourg and Investors should note that all the regulatory protections provided by their local regulatory authorities may not apply. Additionally the Funds will be registered in non-EU jurisdictions. As a result of such registrations the Funds may be subject, without any notice to the shareholders in the Funds concerned, to more restrictive regulatory regimes. In such cases the Funds will abide by these more restrictive requirements. This may prevent the Funds from making the fullest possible use of the investment limits. Risk of Suspension of Share dealings: nvestors are reminded that in certain circumstances their right to redeem or switch Shares may be suspended. Interest Rate Risk: The values of bonds and other debt instruments usually rise and fall in response to changes in interest rates. Declining interest rates generally increase the values of existing debt instruments, and rising interest rates generally reduce the value of existing debt instruments. Interest rate risk is generally greater for investments with long durations or maturities. Some investments give the issuer the option to call or redeem an investment before its maturity date. If an issuer calls or redeems an investment during a time of declining interest rates, a Fund might have to reinvest the proceeds in an investment offering a lower yield, and therefore might not benefit from any increase in value as a result of declining interest rates. Credit Risk: The ability, or perceived ability, of an issuer of a debt security to make timely payments of interest and principal on the security will affect the value of the security. It is possible that the ability of the issuer to meet its obligation will decline substantially during the period when a Fund owns securities of that issuer, or that the issuer will default on its obligations. An actual or perceived deterioration in the ability of an issuer to meet its obligations will likely have an adverse effect on the value of the issuer’s securities. If a security has been rated by more than one nationally recognised statistical rating organisation the Fund’s Investment Manager may consider the highest rating for the purposes of determining whether the security is investment grade. A Fund will not necessarily dispose of a security held by it if its rating falls below investment grade, although the Fund’s Investment Manager will consider whether the security continues to be an appropriate investment for the Fund. A Fund’s Investment Manager considers whether a security is investment grade only at the time of purchase. Some of the Funds will invest in securities which will not be rated by a nationally recognised statistical rating organisation, but the credit quality will be determined by the Investment Manager. Credit risk is generally greater for investments issued at less than their face values and required to make interest payments only at maturity rather than at intervals during the life of the investment. Credit rating agencies base their ratings largely on the issuer’s historical financial condition and the rating agencies’ investment analysis at the time of rating. The rating assigned to any particular investment does not necessarily reflect the issuer’s current financial condition, and does not reflect an assessment of an investment’s volatility and liquidity. Although investment grade investments generally have lower credit risk than investments rated below investment grade, they may share some of the risks of lower-rated investments, including the possibility that the issuers may be unable to make timely payments of interest and principal and thus default. Liquidity Risk: Liquidity risk exists when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell. A Fund’s investment in illiquid securities may reduce the returns of the Fund because it may be unable to sell the illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price. Investments in foreign securities, derivatives or securities with substantial market and/or credit risk tend to have the greatest exposure to liquidity risk. Illiquid securities may be highly volatile and difficult to value. Inflation/Deflation Risk: Inflation is the risk that a Fund’s assets or income from a Fund’s investments may be worth less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the real value of a Fund’s portfolio could decline. Deflation risk is the risk that prices throughout the economy may decline over time. Deflation may have an adverse effect on the creditworthiness of issuers and may make issuer default more likely, which may result in a decline in the value of a Fund’s portfolio. Financial Derivative Instrument Risk: For a Fund that uses financial derivative instruments to meet its specific investment objective, there is no guarantee that the performance of the financial derivative instruments will result in a positive effect for the Fund and its Shareholders. Warrants Risk: When a Fund invests in warrants, the price, performance and liquidity of such warrants are typically linked to the underlying stock. However, the price, performance and liquidity of such warrants will generally fluctuate more than the underlying securities because of the greater volatility of the warrants market. In addition to the market risk related to the volatility of warrants, a Fund investing in synthetic warrants, where the issuer of the synthetic warrant is different to that of the underlying stock, is subject to the risk that the issuer of the synthetic warrant will not perform its obligations under the transactions which may result in the Fund, and ultimately its Shareholders, suffering a loss. Credit Default Swap Risk: A credit default swap allows the transfer of default risk. This allows a Fund to effectively buy insurance on a reference obligation it holds (hedging the investment), or buy protection on a reference obligation it does not physically own in the expectation that the credit will decline in quality. One party, the protection buyer, makes a stream of payments to the seller of the protection, and a payment is due to the buyer if there is a credit event (a decline in credit quality, which will be predefined in the agreement between the parties). If the credit event does not occur the buyer pays all the required premiums and the swap terminates on maturity with no further payments. The risk of the buyer is therefore limited to the value of the premiums paid. In addition, if there is a credit event and the Fund does not hold the underlying reference obligation, there may be a market risk as the Fund may need time to obtain the reference obligation and deliver it to the counterparty. Furthermore, if the counterparty becomes insolvent, the Fund may not recover the full amount due to it from the counterparty. The market for credit default swaps may sometimes be more illiquid than the bond markets. The Company will mitigate this risk by monitoring in an appropriate manner the use of this type of transaction. Futures, Options and Forward Transactions Risk: A Fund may use options, futures and forward contracts on currencies, securities, indices, volatility, inflation and interest rates for hedging and investment purposes. Transactions in futures may carry a high degree of risk. The amount of the initial margin is small relative to the value of the futures contract so that transactions are “leveraged” or“geared”. A relatively small market movement will have a proportionately larger impact which may work for or against the Fund. The placing of certain orders which are intended to limit losses to certain amounts may not be effective because market conditions may make it impossible to execute such orders. Transactions in options may also carry a high degree of risk. Selling (“writing” or“granting”) an option generally entails considerably greater risk than purchasing options. Although the premium received by the Fund is fixed, the Fund may sustain a loss well in excess of that amount. The Fund will also be exposed to the risk of the purchaser exercising the option and the Fund will be obliged either to settle the option in cash or to acquire or deliver the underlying investment. If the option is “covered” by the Fund holding a corresponding position in the underlying investment or a future on another option, the risk may be reduced. Forward transactions, in particular those traded over-the-counter, have an increased counterparty risk. If a counterparty defaults, the Fund may not get the expected payment or delivery of assets. This may result in the loss of the unrealised profit. Credit Linked Note Risk: A credit linked note is a debt instrument which assumes both credit risk of the relevant reference entity (or entities) and the issuer of the credit linked note. There is also a risk associated with the coupon payment; if a reference entity in a basket of credit linked notes suffers a credit event, the coupon will be re-set and is paid on the reduced nominal amount. Both the residual capital and coupon are exposed to further credit events. In extreme cases, the entire capital may be lost. There is also the risk that a note issuer may default. Equity Linked Note Risk: The return component of an equity linked note is based on the performance of a single security, a basket of securities or an equity index. Investment in these instruments may cause a capital loss if the value of the underlying security decreases. In extreme cases the entire capital may be lost. These risks are also found in investing in equity investments directly. The return payable for the note is determined at a specified time on a valuation date, irrespective of the fluctuations in the underlying stock price. There is no guarantee that a return or yield on an investment will be made. There is also the risk that a note issuer may default. A Fund may use equity linked notes to gain access to certain markets, for example emerging and less developed markets, where direct investment is not possible. This approach may result in the following additional risks being incurred – lack of a secondary market in such instruments, illiquidity of the underlying securities, and difficulty selling these instruments at times when the underlying markets are closed. General Risk associated with OTC Transactions: Instruments traded in OTC markets may trade in smaller volumes, and their prices may be more volatile than instruments principally traded on exchanges. Such instruments may be less liquid than more widely traded instruments. In addition, the prices of such instruments may include an undisclosed dealer mark-up which a Fund may pay as part of the purchase price. Counterparty Risk: The Company conducts transactions through or with brokers, clearing houses, market counterparties and other agents. The Company will be subject to the risk of the inability of any such counterparty to perform its obligations, whether due to insolvency, bankruptcy or other causes. A Fund may invest into instruments such as notes, bonds or warrants the performance of which is linked to a market or investment to which the Fund seeks to be exposed. Such instruments are issued by a range of counterparties and through its investment the Fund will be subject to the counterparty risk of the issuer, in addition to the investment exposure it seeks. The Funds will only enter into OTC derivatives transactions with first class institutions which are subject to prudential supervision and specialising in these types of transactions. In principle, the counterparty risk for such derivative transactions entered into with first class institutions should not exceed 10% of the relevant Fund’s net assets when the counterparty is a credit institution or 5% of its net assets in other cases. However, if a counterparty defaults, the actual losses may exceed these limitations. Custody Risk: Assets of the Company are safe kept by the Custodian and investors are exposed to the risk of the Custodian not being able to fully meet its obligation to restitute in a short time frame all of the assets of the Company in the case of bankruptcy of the Custodian. The assets of the Company will be identified in the Custodian's books as belonging to the Company. Securities held by the Custodian will be segregated from other assets of the Custodian which mitigates but does not exclude the risk of non restitution in case of bankruptcy. However, no such segregation applies to cash which increases the risk of non restitution in case of bankruptcy. The Custodian does not keep all the assets of the Company itself but uses a network of sub-custodians which are not part of the same group of companies as the Custodian. Investors are exposed to the risk of bankruptcy of the sub-custodians in the same manner as they are to the risk of bankruptcy of the Custodian. A Fund may invest in markets where custodial and/or settlement systems are not fully developed. The assets of the Fund that are traded in such markets and which have been entrusted to such sub-custodians may be exposed to risk in circumstances where the Custodian will have no liability. Smaller Companies Risk: A Fund which invests in smaller companies may fluctuate in value more than other Funds. Smaller companies may offer greater opportunities for capital appreciation than larger companies, but may also involve certain special risks. They are more likely than larger companies to have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, or to depend on a small, inexperienced management group. Securities of smaller companies may, especially during periods where markets are falling, become less liquid and experience short-term price volatility and wide spreads between dealing prices. They may also trade in the OTC market or on a regional exchange, or may otherwise have limited liquidity. Consequently investments in smaller companies may be more vulnerable to adverse developments than those in larger companies and the Fund may have more difficulty establishing or closing out its securities positions in smaller companies at prevailing market prices. Also, there may be less publicly available information about smaller companies or less market interest in the securities, and it may take longer for the prices of the securities to reflect the full value of the issuers’ earning potential or assets. Technology Related Companies Risk: Investments in the technology sector may present a greater risk and a higher volatility than investments in a broader range of securities covering different economic sectors.The equity securities of the companies in which a Fund may invest are likely to be affected by world-wide scientific or technological developments, and their products or services may rapidly fall into obsolescence. In addition, some of these companies offer products or services that are subject to governmental regulation and may, therefore, be adversely affected by governmental policies. As a result, the investments made by a Fund may drop sharply in value in response to market, research or regulatory setbacks. Lower Rated, Higher Yielding Debt Securities Risk: A Fund may invest in lower rated, higher yielding debt securities, which are subject to greater market and credit risks than higher rated securities. Generally, lower rated securities pay higher yields than more highly rated securities to compensate Investors for the higher risk. The lower ratings of such securities reflect the greater possibility that adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, or rising interest rates, may impair the ability of the issuer to make payments to holders of the securities. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund is accompanied by a higher degree of credit risk than is present with investments in higher rated, lower yielding securities. Property and Real Estate Companies Securities Risk: The risks associated with investments in securities of companies principally engaged in the real estate industry include: the cyclical nature of real estate values; risks related to general and local economic conditions; overbuilding and increased competition; increases in property taxes and operating expenses; demographic trends and variations in rental income; changes in zoning laws; casualty or condemnation losses; environmental risks; regulatory limitations on rents; changes in neighbourhood values; related party risks; changes in the appeal of properties to tenants; increases in interest rates; and other real estate capital market influences. Generally, increases in interest rates will increase the costs of obtaining financing, which could directly and indirectly decrease the value of the Fund's investments. The real estate market has, at certain times, not performed in the same manner as equity and bond markets. As the real estate market frequently performs, positively or negatively and without any correlation to the equity or bond markets, these investments may affect the performance of the Fund either in a positive or a negative manner. Mortgage related and other asset backed securities Risks: Mortgage-backed securities, including collateralised mortgage obligations and certain stripped mortgage-backed securities represent a participation in, or are secured by, mortgage loans. Asset-backed securities are structured like mortgage-backed securities, but instead of mortgage loans or interests in mortgage loans, the underlying assets may include such items as motor vehicles instalment sales or instalment loan contracts, leases of various types of real and personal property and receivables from credit card agreements. Traditional debt investments typically pay a fixed rate of interest until maturity, when the entire principal amount is due. By contrast, payments on mortgage-backed and many asset-backed investments typically include both interest and partial payment of principal. Principal may also be prepaid voluntarily, or as a result of refinancing or foreclosure. A Fund may have to invest the proceeds from prepaid investments in other investments with less attractive terms and yields. As a result, these securities may have less potential for capital appreciation during periods of declining interest rates than other securities of comparable maturities, although they may have a similar risk of decline in market value during periods of rising interest rates. As the prepayment rate generally declines as interest rates rise, an increase in interest rates will likely increase the duration, and thus the volatility, of mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. In addition to interest rate risk (as described above), investments in mortgage-backed securities composed of subprime mortgages may be subject to a higher degree of credit risk, valuation risk and liquidity risk (as described above). Duration is a measure of the expected life of a fixed income security that is used to determine the sensitivity of the security’s price to changes in interest rates. Unlike the maturity of a fixed income security, which measures only the time until final payment is due, duration takes into account the time until all payments of . interest and principal on a security are expected to be made, including how these payments are affected by prepayments and by changes in interest rates. The ability of an issuer of asset-backed securities to enforce its security interest in the underlying assets may be limited. Some mortgage-backed and asset backed investments receive only the interest portion or the principal portion of payments on the underlying assets. The yields and values of these investments are extremely sensitive to changes in interest rates and in the rate of principal payments on the underlying assets. Interest portions tend to decrease in value if interest rates decline and rates of repayment (including prepayment) on the underlying mortgages or assets increase; it is possible that a Fund may lose the entire amount of its investment in an interest portion due to a decrease in interest rates. Conversely, principal portions tend to decrease in value if interest rates rise and rates of repayment decrease. Moreover, the market for interest portions and principal portions may be volatile and limited, which may make them difficult for a Fund to buy or sell. A Fund may gain investment exposure to mortgage-backed and asset-backed investments by entering into agreements with financial institutions to buy the investments at a fixed price at a future date. A Fund may or may not take delivery of the investments at the termination date of such an agreement, but will nonetheless be exposed to changes in the value of the underlying investments during the term of the agreement. Initial Public Offerings Risk: A Fund may invest in initial public offerings, which frequently are smaller companies. Such securities have no trading history, and information about these companies may only be available for limited periods. The prices of securities involved in initial public offerings may be subject to greater price volatility than more established securities. Risk associated with Debt securities issued pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933: SEC Rule 144A provides a safe harbour exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 for resale of restricted securities to qualified institutional buyers, as defined in the rule. The advantage for Investors may be higher returns due to lower administration charges. However, dissemination of secondary market transactions in rule 144A securities is restricted and only available to qualified institutional buyers. This might increase the volatility of the security prices and, in extreme conditions, decrease the liquidity of a particular rule 144A security. Emerging and Less Developed Markets Securities Risk: nvesting in emerging markets and less developed markets securities poses risks different from, and/or greater than, risks of investing in the securities of developed countries. These risks include; smaller market-capitalisation of securities markets, which may suffer periods of relative illiquidity; significant price volatility; restrictions on foreign investment; and possible repatriation of investment income and capital. In addition, foreign Investors may be required to register the proceeds of sales, and future economic or political crises could lead to price controls, forced mergers, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, seizure, nationalisation or the creation of government monopolies. Inflation and rapid fluctuations in inflation rates have had, and may continue to have, negative effects on the economies and securities markets of certain emerging and less developed countries. Although many of the emerging and less developed market securities in which a Fund may invest are traded on securities exchanges, they may trade in limited volume and may encounter settlement systems that are less well organised than those of developed markets. Supervisory authorities may also be unable to apply standards that are comparable with those in developed markets. Thus there may be risks that settlement may be delayed and that cash or securities belonging to the relevant Fund may be in jeopardy because of failures of or defects in the systems or because of defects in the administrative operations of counterparties. Such counterparties may lack the substance or financial resources of similar counterparties in a developed market. There may also be a danger that competing claims may arise in respect of securities held by or to be transferred to the Fund and compensation schemes may be non-existent or limited or inadequate to meet the Fund’s claims in any of these events. In addition investments in certain emerging and less developed countries, such as Russia and Ukraine, are currently subject to certain heightened risks with regard to the ownership and custody of securities. In these countries, shareholdings are evidenced by entries in the books of a company or its registrar (which is neither an agent nor responsible to the Custodian). No certificates representing shareholdings in companies will be held by the Custodian or any of its local correspondents or in an effective central depository system. As a result of this system and the lack of effective state regulation and enforcement, the Company could lose its registration and ownership of the securities through fraud, negligence or even mere oversight. Debt securities also have an increased . custodial risk associated with them as such securities may, in accordance with market practice in the emerging or less developed countries, be held in custody with institutions in those countries which may not have adequate insurance coverage to cover loss due to theft, destruction or default. It should be taken into consideration that when investing in government debt of emerging or less developed countries, particularly Ukraine, whether via the primary or secondary market, local regulations may stipulate that Investors maintain a cash account directly with the sub-custodian. Such balance represents a debt due from the sub-custodian to the Investors and the Custodian shall not be liable for this balance. Additional risks of emerging market securities may include: greater social, economic and political uncertainty and instability; more substantial governmental involvement in the economy; less governmental supervision and regulation; unavailability of currency hedging techniques; companies that are newly organised and small; differences in auditing and financial reporting standards, which may result in unavailability of material information about issuers; and less developed legal systems. In addition taxation of interest and capital gains received by non-residents varies among emerging and less developed markets and, in some cases may be comparatively high. There may also be less welldefined tax laws and procedures and such laws may permit retroactive taxation so that the Fund could in the future become subject to local tax liabilities that had not been anticipated in conducting investment activities or valuing assets. Specific risks linked to securities lending and repurchase transactions: Securities lending and repurchase transactions involve certain risks. There is no assurance that a Fund will achieve the objective for which it entered into a transaction. Repurchase transactions might expose the Fund to risks similar to those associated with optional or forward derivative financial instruments, the risks of which are described in other sections of this Prospectus. Securities loans may, in the event of a counterparty default or an operational difficulty, be recovered late and only in part, which might restrict the Fund's ability to complete the sale of securities or to meet redemption requests.The Fund's exposure to its counterparty will be mitigated by the fact that the counterparty will forfeit its collateral if it defaults on the transaction. If the collateral is in the form of securities, there is a risk that when it is sold it will realise insufficient cash to settle the counterparty's debt to the Fund or to purchase replacements for the securities that were lent to the counterparty. In the latter case, the Fund's tri-party lending agent will indemnify the Fund against a shortfall of cash available to purchase replacement securities but there is a risk that the indemnity might be insufficient or otherwise unreliable. In the event that the Fund reinvests cash collateral in one or more of the permitted types of investment that are described above, there is a risk that the investment will earn less than the interest that is due to the counterparty in respect of that cash and that it will return less than the amount of cash that was invested. There is also a risk that the investment will become illiquid, which would restrict the Fund's ability to recover its securities on loan, which might restrict the Fund's ability to complete the sale of securities or to meet redemption requests. Potential Conflicts of Interest: The Investment Managers and Schroders may effect transactions in which the Investment Managers or Schroders have, directly or indirectly, an interest which may involve a potential conflict with the Investment Managers’ duty to the Company. Neither the Investment Managers nor Schroders shall be liable to account to the Company for any profit, commission or remuneration made or received from or by reason of such transactions or any connected transactions nor will the Investment Managers’ fees, unless otherwise provided, be abated.The Investment Managers will ensure that such transactions are effected on terms which are not less favourable to the Company than if the potential conflict had not existed. Such potential conflicting interests or duties may arise because the Investment Managers or Schroders may have invested directly or indirectly in the Company. Funds investing in mortgage related and other asset backed securities: To the extent that mortgage and asset backed securities are not guaranteed, they are subject to credit risk. The main factors for credit risk are the likelihood of the borrower paying the promised cash flows and the value of the collateral. If an underlying borrower becomes insolvent or the collateral loses in value, the mortgage or asset backed securities may become worthless. Inflation Linked Debt Securities: This asset class is not as liquid as the conventional government bond market. As a result, investor flows can have a higher impact on prices than for conventional bonds, which can influence performance. However, as the asset class grows in popularity, the susceptibility to the influence will diminish. It is important to bear in mind, however, that funds investing in inflation linked debt securities are not an alternative to money market funds. Inflation should lead to higher returns as inflation climbs but, if yields rise dramatically, investors could lose money. Currency Risks: Assets may be denominated in currencies other than USD and some may not be freely convertible. Such Funds may be adversely affected by changes in foreign exchange rates of the currencies in which securities are held and the US Dollar. It may not be practicable or possible to hedge against such foreign exchange/currency risk exposure. The Directors may, from time to time, permit the use of forward currency transactions and/or currency futures or options with the aim of protecting the value of the assets of the Funds against untoward foreign exchange risks. Concentrated geographical locations: The Fund investing in concentrated geographical locations may be subject to a higher level of risks comparing to a Fund investing in a more diversified portfolio/strategy. Concentrated sector: The Fund investing in concentrated sector may be subject to a higher level of risks comparing to a Fund investing in a more diversified portfolio/strategy. Risk of termination of the Funds: In the event of the early termination of the Fund, the Fund would have to distribute to the Shareholders their pro-rata interest in the assets of the Fund. It is possible that at the time of such sale or distribution, certain investments held by the Fund may be worth less than the initial cost of such investments, resulting in a substantial loss to the Shareholder. |