Legal notices

Explanation of contents for client notifications communicated on 22.03.19:

We are disappointed to announce that the Extraordinary Resolution to reposition the Allianz US Equity Fund into the Allianz US Micro Cap Equity Fund did not pass at the Extraordinary General Meeting of 22nd March 2019 at 12.00.

In total there were 58.6% of votes cast in favour (75% required to pass) of the Proposal versus 41.4% against. Of the direct retail investors who voted just under 95% of the votes cast were in favour versus just over 5% against.

The US Micro Cap strategy is one of our top performing US equity strategies with over 20 years track record for US based investors. The head of that team has been the lead portfolio manager since the inception of the US Micro Cap strategy in July 1998 and has a proven track record in long term outperformance versus the Russell Microcap Growth Index. See below.

We have therefore decided to make alternative arrangements in order to bring this fund to market. We thank you for your continued investment in our fund range and we will be in contact with you in the next few months regarding your investment in the Allianz US Equity Fund.

Explanation of contents for client notifications communicated on 11.03.19:

Due to an administrative error with our printers it has become apparent that only half of the intended recipients received the shareholder circular sent on 4th March 2019 with all of the information required to vote on the proposal by 14th March 2019.

To rectify this we are amending the date of the EGM to the 22nd March 2019 and pushing back the cut-off date to receive votes to 20th March 2019. We apologise for any inconvenience this might cause.

The revised timetable for proposals is as follows:
8 March: Investor notifications mailed. 14 days’ notice starts
20 March: Deadline for receipt of Proxy Forms
22 March: Meeting of Shareholders EGM
8 April: First day of dealing in the new Fund is proposal is approved by shareholders

Explanation of contents for client notifications communicated on 04.03.19, effective from 08.04.19:

Shareholders have been informed of a proposal to change the following:

• Change of the investment objective and policy of the Fund
  We believe that there is a better way to offer you actively managed investment returns in US companies at the smaller end of the market capitalisation spectrum. We will do this specifically by investing in companies that are deemed micro capitalised stocks (using the Russell Microcap Growth Index definition) with a market capitalisation of c. USD 618m / GBP 484m (as at end of November 2018). We believe there is far more opportunity for a truly active fund manager, such as ourselves, to generate more active investment returns in this less widely traded market compared to the much larger S&P 500 index.
• Change of Benchmark
  To reflect the strategy of investing in a smaller market cap sub-set of the US equity universe, the benchmark of the Fund will be changed from the S&P 500 to the Russell Microcap Growth Index Total Return GBP.
• Change of the name of the Fund to the Allianz US Micro Cap Equity Fund
• Conversion of the A Class Shares into cheaper C Class Shares and a reduction in fees for C Class shareholders
  All A Class shareholders will receive C Class Shares at our reduced fee rate. This will mean that there will be a difference in the number of shares you will hold.

If you are a C Class shareholder you will not see any changes other than the fee reduction discussed in the circular.

There will be no Capital Gains Tax event as a result of this conversion. If you are unsure of your tax position please seek the advice of a professional.

Overall we will refer to the above changes as the “Proposal”.

Other changes we will make as a result of the Proposal being approved:

• Change of Investment Association peer group
  The Investment Association (IA) peer group that the Fund currently resides in will change from the IA North America sector to the IA North American Smaller Companies sector as a result of this change of strategy. Please refer to the circular for definition of sector.

The purpose of this circular is to explain, and seek shareholder approval, of the Proposal.

Any costs (excluding trading within the Fund) involved in the process of making these changes will be borne by the ACD.

If you have any questions or require any further information concerning this circular, please contact us on 0800 073 2001.

Explanation of contents:

• The introduction of the Bond Connect program and China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM) Direct, enabling the Fund to invest in Chinese RMB Denominated Bonds (significant change).
• Amendment of the Investment Policy to introduce a specific Chinese Bonds denominated in RMB limit of 30% of the Fund’s assets.
• Clarification of Countries that the Fund may invest over 35% of NAV into government backed securities, performance target and types of derivatives used.

Explanation of contents:

• The introduction of the Bond Connect program and China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM) Direct, enabling the Fund to invest in Chinese RMB Denominated Bonds (significant change).
• Amendment of the Investment Policy to introduce a specific Chinese Bonds denominated in RMB limit of 30% of the Fund’s assets.
• Provision of further information on the Global Exposure and Leverage taken by the Fund

Explanation of contents:

• Clarification of the investment objective and policy.
• Clarification that no suitable Performance Benchmark exists for Multi Asset funds such as these.
• Clarification of the Use of Derivatives and why we are increasing usage in order to meet the investment objective and subsequently the Global Exposure and Leverage taken by the Fund.
• From 02.01.2019 we will no longer be using the Distribution Technology Risk Target Managed (DT RTM) methodology as a guideline for the volatility taken by the Fund. The Funds will instead have a risk rating, but no longer explicitly target the volatility bands set by Distribution Technology.