Water Island Capital, the adviser to the Arbitrage Funds series trust, is pleased to announce that the Arbitrage Credit Opportunities Fund (“the Fund”) will be renamed the Water Island Credit Opportunities Fund effective immediately. This name change will not impact the Fund’s ticker symbols or CUSIPs. In addition, Water Island Capital will be reducing the expense caps for the Fund and has implemented breakpoints in the management fee. None of these changes will alter Water Island’s investment objective, strategy, or personnel, and the adviser believes they will positively impact the Fund’s shareholders, as explained below.
To simplify the Fund’s name and to highlight Water Island Capital’s broad investment capabilities, the Arbitrage Credit Opportunities Fund has been renamed the Water Island Credit Opportunities Fund. Water Island Capital has been the adviser to the Fund since inception and has nearly two decades of experience managing alternative strategies in a mutual fund format. Water Island believes the new name more clearly delineates the Fund’s strategy, while highlighting the firm’s capabilities in catalyst-driven long/short credit investing.
Additionally, Water Island Capital is implementing breakpoints in its management fee, which will reduce the fee as the Fund grows, and lowering the level at which the Fund’s expenses are capped (the adviser has agreed to limit the total annual operating expenses of the Fund, so they do not exceed 0.98% for Class I shares, excluding the impact of borrowings, dividends and interest on short positions, and other extraordinary costs1). Water Island believes these changes will further align its catalyst-driven long/short credit strategy with the interests of its clients and facilitate Water Island’s goal of providing a compelling credit strategy to investors. Gregg Loprete, co-portfolio manager of the Fund, said, “These changes are consistent with our dedication to delivering attractive investment strategies to our investors at the most effective cost. My team and I remain committed to managing a portfolio focused on idiosyncratic corporate events that seeks to deliver absolute returns with low correlation to and lower volatility than the broader markets.”
All changes above are effective as of August 6, 2018.
1 Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses for ACFIX (institutional shares), ARCFX (retail shares), ARCCX (C shares), and AGCAX (A shares) are 1.69%, 1.94%, 2.69%, and 1.94%, respectively. Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver are 1.16%, 1.41%, 2.16%, and 1.41%, respectively. The Fund has entered into an Expense Waiver and Reimbursement Agreement with the Fund’s investment adviser pursuant to which the adviser has contractually agreed to limit the total annual operating expenses of the Fund, not including taxes, interest, dividends on short positions, brokerage commissions, acquired fund fees and expenses and other costs incurred in connection with the purchase or sale of portfolio securities, so that they do not exceed 0.98%, 1.23%, 1.98%, and 1.98% for ACFIX, ARCFX, ARCCX, and AGCAX, respectively. The agreement remains in effect until September 30, 2020. Without such fee waivers, performance numbers would have been reduced.
RISKS: The Fund uses investment techniques that incur risks that are different from the risks ordinarily associated with credit investments. Such risks include merger arbitrage risks (in that the proposed reorganizations in which the Fund invests may be renegotiated or terminated, in which case the Fund may realize losses), high portfolio turnover risks (which may increase the Fund’s brokerage costs, which would reduce performance), options risks, borrowing risks, short sale risks (the Fund will suffer a loss if it sells a security short and the value of the security rises rather than falls), foreign investment risks (the securities of foreign issuers may be less liquid and more volatile than securities of comparable U.S. issuers), convertible security risks, credit default swap risks, interest rate swap risks, credit risks, and interest rate risks, which may increase volatility and may increase costs and lower performance.
