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Principal Contracts and Agreements (Tags)
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Teucrium Agricultural Fund [Member]  
Principal Contracts and Agreements

Note 2 – Principal Contracts and Agreements


On August 17, 2015 (the “Conversion Date”), U.S. Bank N.A. replaced The Bank of New York Mellon as the Custodian for the Funds. The principal business address for U.S. Bank N.A. is 1555 North Rivercenter Drive, Suite 302, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212.  U.S. Bank N.A. is a Wisconsin state chartered bank subject to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Wisconsin State Banking Department.  The principal address for U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, LLC (“USBFS”), is 777 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wi, 53202. In addition, effective on the Conversion Date, USBFS, a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank, commenced serving as administrator for each Fund, performing certain administrative and accounting services and preparing certain SEC reports on behalf of the Funds, and also became the registrar and transfer agent for each Fund's Shares. For such services, U.S. Bank and USBFS will receive an asset-based fee, subject to a minimum annual fee.  The Sponsor does not anticipate any material change to the expenses for any Fund, net of expenses waived by the Sponsor, as a result of the servicing conversion to USBFS and U.S. Bank.

Given this conversion, the Sponsor has, for the year-ended December 31, 2015, reflected an expense, before and after fees waived by the Sponsor, for fees associated with Custodian, Fund Administration and Transfer Agent services (“Custodian Fees”) that have or will be paid to the Bank of New York Mellon by a Fund or by the Sponsor on behalf of a Fund.  The Custodian Fees reflected in the financial statements through December 31, 2015, net of expenses waived by the Sponsor, are generally as had been presented in prior periods of 2015.

For custody services, the Funds will pay to U.S. Bank N.A. 0.0075% of average gross assets up to $1 billion, and .0050% of average gross assets over $1 billion, annually, plus certain per-transaction charges. For Transfer Agency, Fund Accounting and Fund Administration services, which are based on the total assets for all the Funds in the Trust, the Funds will pay to USBFS 0.06% of average gross assets on the first $250 million, 0.05% on the next $250 million, 0.04% on the next $500 million and 0.03% on the balance over $1 billion annually. A combined minimum annual fee of up to $64,500 for custody, transfer agency, accounting and administrative services is assessed per Fund. For the year ended December 31, 2015, such expenses include both the fees for the Bank of New York Mellon and U.S. Bank. The Funds recognized $133,965 in 2015, $1,506 in 2014 and $(16) in 2013 for these services, which was recorded in custodian fees and expenses on the combined statement of operations; these expenses were waived by the Sponsor. In 2013, the negative expense was due to reclassifications of previous over-accruals.

The Sponsor and the Trust employ Foreside Fund Services, LLC (“Foreside” or the “Distributor”) as the Distributor for the Funds. The Distribution Services Agreement among the Distributor, the Sponsor and the Trust calls for the Distributor to work with the Custodian in connection with the receipt and processing of orders for Creation Baskets and Redemption Baskets and the review and approval of all Fund sales literature and advertising materials. The Distributor and the Sponsor have also entered into a Securities Activities and Service Agreement (the “SASA”) under which certain employees and officers of the Sponsor are licensed as registered representatives or registered principals of the Distributor, under Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) rules. For its services as the Distributor, Foreside receives a fee of 0.01% of the Fund's average daily net assets and an aggregate annual fee of $100,000 for all Teucrium Funds, along with certain expense reimbursements. For its services under the SASA, Foreside receives a fee of $5,000 per registered representative and $1,000 per registered location. The Fund recognized $1,240 in 2015, $1,850 in 2014 and $2,415 in 2013 for these services, which was recorded in distribution and marketing fees on the statement of operations; the total expense recognized in each year was waived by the Sponsor.

In 2014 and 2013, Newedge USA, LLC (“Newedge USA”) served as the Funds' futures commission merchant (“FCM”) and primary clearing broker to execute and clear the Funds' futures transactions and provide other brokerage-related services.  In 2014, the Funds introduced the use of Jefferies LLC (“Jefferies”), for the execution and clearing of the Funds' futures and options, if any, on futures transactions. On January 2, 2015, Newedge USA, LLC (“Newedge USA”) merged with and into SG Americas Securities, LLC (“SG”), with the latter as the surviving entity. On February 6, 2015 Jefferies LLC (“Jefferies”) became the Funds' FCM and primary clearing broker. All futures contracts held by SG were transferred to Jefferies on that date. As of February 23, 2015 all residual cash balances held at SG had been transferred to Jefferies and the balance in all SG accounts was $0. Effective June 3, 2015, ED&F Man Capital Markets Inc. (“ED&F Man”) replaced Jefferies as the Underlying Funds' FCM and the clearing broker to execute and clear the Underlying Fund's futures and provide other brokerage-related services. As of June 4, 2015 all futures contracts and residual cash balances of the Underlying Funds held at Jefferies had been transferred to ED&F Man and the balance in all Jefferies accounts was $0ED&F Man is registered as a FCM with the U.S. CFTC and is a member of the NFA. ED&F Man is also registered as a broker/dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is a member of the FINRA.  ED&F Man is a clearing member of ICE Futures U.S., Inc., Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, New York Mercantile Exchange, and all other major United States commodity exchanges. The Bank of New York Mellon serves as the primary clearing broker for the Fund in activity related to shares of the Underlying Funds. The Fund did not recognize any expense for these services for the year ended December 31, 2015 and 2014. The Fund recognized $122 in 2013 for these services, which was recorded in brokerage commissions on the statement of operations and was paid for by the Fund.

 

The sole Trustee of the Trust is Wilmington Trust Company, a Delaware banking corporation.  The Trustee will accept service of legal process on the Trust in the State of Delaware and will make certain filings under the Delaware Statutory Trust Act. For its services, the Trustee receives an annual fee of $3,300 from the Trust. The Fund recognized $24 in 2015, $29 in 2014 and $17 in 2013 for these services, which was recorded in business permits and licenses fees on the statement of operations; this expense was waived by the Sponsor.