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ASG Growth Markets Fund
ASG Growth Markets Fund
Investment Goal
Over the long term the Fund seeks to provide total return consistent with broad-based emerging market equity indices while exposing investors to less risk than one or more such index.
Fund Fees & Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Natixis Fund Complex. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in the section “How Sales Charges Are Calculated” on page 35 of the Prospectus and on page 91 in the section “Reduced Sales Charges” of the Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”).
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees - ASG Growth Markets Fund
Class A
Class C
Class Y
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price) 5.75% none none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of original purchase price or redemption proceeds, as applicable) none 1.00% none
Redemption fees none none none
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - ASG Growth Markets Fund
Class A
Class C
Class Y
Management fees 1.20% 1.20% 1.20%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees 0.25% 1.00% none
Other expenses (estimated for the current fiscal year) 0.83% 0.83% 0.83%
Total annual fund operating expenses 2.28% 3.03% 2.03%
Fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement [1] 0.57% 0.57% 0.57%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement 1.71% 2.46% 1.46%
[1] AlphaSimplex Group, LLC ("AlphaSimplex" or the "Adviser") has given a binding contractual undertaking to the Fund to limit the amount of the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses to 1.70%, 2.45% and 1.45% of the Fund's average daily net assets for Class A, C and Y shares, respectively, exclusive of brokerage expenses, interest expense, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, organizational and extraordinary expenses, such as litigation and indemnification expenses. This undertaking is in effect through March 31, 2013 and may be terminated before then only with the consent of the Fund's Board of Trustees. The Fund's investment adviser will be permitted to recover, on a class by class basis, management fees waived and/or expenses reimbursed to the extent that expenses in later periods fall below 1.70%, 2.45% and 1.45% of the Fund's average daily net assets for Class A, C and Y shares, respectively. The Fund will not be obligated to repay any such waived/reimbursed fees and expenses more than one year after the end of the fiscal year in which the fee/expense was waived/reimbursed.
Example
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods (except where indicated). The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same, except that the example is based on the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement for the first year and on the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses for the remaining years. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
If shares are redeemed
Expense Example - ASG Growth Markets Fund (USD $)
Class A
Class C
Class Y
1 year 739 349 149
3 years 1,195 883 582
If shares are not redeemed
Expense Example, No Redemption (USD $)
ASG Growth Markets Fund
Class C
1 year 249
3 years 883
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes for you if your Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the period from October 21, 2011 (the Fund’s inception date) through November 30, 2011, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 0.00% of the average value of its portfolio.
Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal circumstances, the Fund primarily invests in a portfolio of equity securities of companies located in emerging markets (such as common stocks, preferred stocks, depositary receipts and exchange-traded funds) and derivative instruments (primarily futures and forward contracts) that has risk and return characteristics similar to those of broad-based emerging market equity indices.

The equity portion of the Fund is managed by Westpeak Global Advisors, LLC (“Westpeak”). This portion of the Fund invests in a stock portfolio based on a proprietary emerging markets securities index developed by Westpeak, which primarily consists of a subset of stocks in a broad-based emerging market equity index and is designed to closely track the movements of the index while exposing investors to the long-term total return potential of emerging market equities. The Fund seeks to complement the equity portfolio with a portfolio of derivatives designed to enhance return and mitigate losses. In selecting derivative investments for the Fund, the Adviser uses quantitative models to estimate the market exposures, or factors, that drive the aggregate returns of one or more broad-based measures of emerging market equity index performance as well as identify the market exposures best suited to limit the volatility and risk of loss associated with the underlying equity portfolio. This will generally result in a derivative portfolio that includes exposures to the returns of global equity and fixed income securities, commodities and currencies, although these exposures will vary over time. The Fund may have both “short” and “long” exposures within an asset class. The Fund will benefit from a “short” exposure when the underlying asset class decreases in price, and will benefit from a “long” exposure when the underlying asset class increases in price.

Under normal market conditions, it is expected that no more than 25% of the Fund’s total assets will be dedicated to initial and variation margin payments relating to the Fund’s derivative transactions. The notional value of the Fund’s derivative investments, however, will generally exceed 25% of the Fund’s assets. The Fund expects that under normal market conditions it will invest at least 10% of its total assets in money market and other short-term, high quality securities (the “Money Market Portion”) managed by Reich & Tang Asset Management, LLC (“Reich & Tang”), although the Fund may invest more or less than this percentage. The Adviser will determine the percentage of the Fund’s assets that will be invested in the Money Market Portion at any time. The assets allocated to the Money Market Portion will be used primarily to support the Fund’s investments in derivatives and, secondarily, to provide the Fund with incremental income and liquidity. In addition to forward currency transactions as part of its derivatives strategy, the Fund may also engage in these transactions and other currency transactions as part of its cash management strategies.

Although the Fund does not intend to invest in physical commodities directly, the Fund expects to obtain investment exposure to commodity-related derivatives through a wholly-owned subsidiary organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands that will make commodity-related investments (the “Commodity Subsidiary”). Under normal market conditions, it is expected that no more than 10% of the Fund’s total assets will be dedicated to initial and variation margin payments relating to these transactions.

The Fund is “non-diversified.” As a non-diversified fund, the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer and may invest in fewer issuers, as compared with other mutual funds that are diversified.

When buying and selling securities and other instruments for the Fund, and in determining the amount of assets to be allocated to the Money Market Portion, the Adviser will also consider the following factors: (i) the Fund’s obligations under its various derivative positions; (ii) redemption requests; (iii) yield management; (iv) credit management; (v) the allocation to equity securities and (vi) volatility management.

Rather than fully replicating the holdings of an emerging market index, Westpeak seeks to create a tracking portfolio using a factor-based methodology with modest tilts to momentum and value, two basic sources of equity return in Westpeak’s view. Momentum refers to price momentum and can be represented by a factor such as past 12-month total return. Value refers to valuation ratios and can be represented by a factor such as price-to-book value.

The Adviser seeks to limit the Fund’s exposure to periodic losses experienced by the underlying portfolio of equity securities and reduce the Fund’s volatility. These elements of risk are managed with an overlay of derivative instruments typically consisting of futures contracts on developed and emerging market equity indices, developed and emerging market government bonds and commodities and currency forward contracts on developed and emerging market currencies. In selecting derivative investments for the Fund, the Adviser uses quantitative models to estimate the market exposures, or factors, that drive the aggregate returns of a broad-based measure of emerging market equity performance as well as identify the market exposures best suited to limit the volatility and risk of loss associated with the underlying equity portfolio. The resulting derivatives portfolio will typically be multi-asset class (equity, fixed-income, commodity and currency) as well as a mix of long and short exposures that are actively adjusted as market conditions change to meet the risk management objectives of the Fund.

The portion of the Fund managed by Reich & Tang will only invest in high quality securities which are denominated in U.S. dollars, and will select securities for investment based on various factors, including the security’s maturity and rating. Reich & Tang will invest primarily in (i) short-term obligations issued or guaranteed by the United States government, its agencies or instrumentalities; (ii) securities issued by foreign governments, their political subdivisions or agencies or instrumentalities; (iii) certificates of deposit, time deposits and bankers’ acceptances issued by domestic banks, foreign branches of domestic banks, foreign subsidiaries of domestic banks, and domestic and foreign branches of foreign banks; (iv) variable amount master demand notes; (v) participation interests in loans extended by banks to companies; (vi) commercial paper or similar debt obligations; and (vii) repurchase agreements.

The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of securities and other instruments. Effects of frequent trading may include high transaction costs, which may lower the Fund’s return, and realization of greater short-term capital gains, distributions of which are taxable to shareholders who are individuals as ordinary income. Trading costs and tax effects associated with frequent trading may adversely affect the Fund’s performance. The Fund’s trading in derivatives is active and frequent. Active and frequent trading of derivatives, like active and frequent trading of securities, will result in transaction costs which reduce fund returns.

The percentage limitations set forth herein are not investment restrictions and the Fund may exceed these limits from time to time.
Principal Risks
The principal risks of investing in the Fund are summarized below. The Fund does not represent a complete investment program. You may lose money by investing in the Fund.

Commodity Risk: This is the risk that exposure to the commodities markets may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The value of physical commodities or commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall market movements, commodity price volatility, changes in interest rates, currency fluctuations, or factors affecting a particular industry or commodity, such as drought, floods, weather, livestock disease, embargoes, tariffs and international economic, political and regulatory developments. Recent rulemaking by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) may require the Fund, the Commodity Subsidiary and/or the Adviser to register with the CFTC, which may affect the Fund's ability to pursue its investment strategies or increase the Fund's expenses. As of the date of this prospectus, the potential impact of the new CFTC rules on the Fund is uncertain.

Commodity Subsidiary Risk: Investing in the Commodity Subsidiary will indirectly expose the Fund to the risks associated with the Commodity Subsidiary's investments, such as commodity investments risk. The Commodity Subsidiary is not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”) and is not subject to all of the investor protections of the 1940 Act. Recent rulemaking by the CFTC may subject the Commodity Subsidiary, the Fund and/or the Adviser to additional requirements and may affect the Fund's ability to use the Commodity Subsidiary to pursue its investment strategies. As of the date of this prospectus, the potential impact of the new CFTC rules on the Fund is uncertain. Changes in the laws of the United States and/or the Cayman Islands, under which the Fund and the Commodity Subsidiary, respectively, are organized, could negatively affect the Fund and its shareholders.

Credit/Counterparty Risk: Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or the guarantor of a fixed-income security, or the counterparty to a derivatives or other transaction, will be unable or unwilling to make timely payments of interest or principal or to otherwise honor its obligations. The Fund will be subject to credit risks with respect to the counterparties of its derivative transactions. Many of the protections afforded to participants on organized exchanges, such as the performance guarantee of an exchange clearing house, are not available in connection with over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivative transactions, such as foreign currency transactions. As a result, in instances when the Fund enters into OTC derivative transactions, the Fund will be subject to the risk that its direct counterparties will not perform their obligations under the transactions and that the Fund will sustain losses or be unable to realize gains.

Currency Risk: Fluctuations in the exchange rates between different currencies may negatively affect an investment. The Fund may elect not to hedge currency risk, or may hedge such risk imperfectly, which may cause the Fund to incur losses that would not have been incurred had the risk been hedged.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are subject to changes in the value of the underlying asset or indices on which such transactions are based. There is no guarantee that the use of derivatives will be effective or that suitable transactions will be available. Even a small investment in derivatives may give rise to leverage risk and can have a significant impact on the Fund's exposure to securities markets values, interest rates or currency exchange rates. It is possible that the Fund's liquid assets may be insufficient to support its obligations under its derivatives positions. The use of derivatives for other than hedging purposes may be considered a speculative activity, and involves greater risks than are involved in hedging. The use of derivatives may cause the Fund to incur losses greater than those which would have occurred had derivatives not been used. The Fund's use of derivatives, such as futures, forward contracts, and other foreign currency transactions and commodity-linked derivatives involves other risks, such as the credit risk relating to the other party to a derivative contract (which is greater for forward contracts and other OTC derivatives), the risk of difficulties in pricing and valuation, the risk that changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with relevant assets, rates or indices, liquidity risk, allocation risk and the risk of losing more than the initial margin required to initiate derivatives positions. There is also the risk that the Fund may be unable to terminate or sell a derivatives position at an advantageous time or price. Moreover, a number of broker-dealers and other financial institutions have recently experienced extreme financial difficulty, sometimes resulting in bankruptcy of the institution. Although the Adviser monitors the creditworthiness of the Fund's derivative counterparties, there can be no assurance that the Fund's derivative counterparties will be able to avoid experiencing similar financial difficulties, possibly resulting in losses to the Fund.

Emerging Markets Risk: Investing in emerging markets companies, which may be smaller and have shorter operating histories than companies in developed markets, involves risks in addition to, and greater than, those generally associated with investing in companies in developed foreign markets. The extent of economic development, political stability, market depth, infrastructure, capitalization and regulatory oversight in emerging market economies is generally less than in more developed markets.

Equity Securities Risk: The value of the Fund's investments in equity securities could be subject to unpredictable declines in the value of individual securities and periods of below-average performance in individual securities or in the equity market as a whole.

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in foreign securities may be subject to greater political, economic, environmental, credit and information risks. The Fund's investments in foreign securities are subject to foreign currency fluctuations. Foreign securities may be subject to higher volatility than U.S. securities, varying degrees of regulation and limited liquidity.

Index/Tracking Error Risk: This is the risk the securities selected by the Fund may not provide investment performance matching that of broad-based emerging markets equity indices.

Interest Rate Risk: Changes in interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's investments to decrease. Generally, the value of fixed-income securities rises when prevailing interest rates fall and falls when interest rates rise. A period of low interest rates may cause the Fund to have a low or negative yield, potentially reducing the value of your investment.

Issuer Risk: The value of the Fund's investments may decline for a number of reasons that directly relate to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer's goods and services.

Leverage Risk: Use of derivative instruments may involve leverage. Leverage is the risk associated with securities or practices that multiply small index, market or asset price movements into larger changes in value. To the extent that the Fund uses a derivative for purposes other than as a hedge, or if the Fund hedges imperfectly, the Fund is directly exposed to the risks of that derivative and any loss generated by the derivative will not be offset by a gain. The use of leverage increases the impact of gains and losses on a fund's returns, and may lead to significant losses if investments are not successful. However, the Adviser will attempt to ensure that at all times the Fund has sufficient liquid assets to enable it to satisfy its obligations under its derivative contracts.

Liquidity Risk: Liquidity risk exists when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell, possibly preventing the Fund from selling these illiquid securities at an advantageous price or time. A lack of liquidity also may cause the value of investments to decline. Illiquid investments also may be difficult to value.

Management Risk: A strategy used by the Fund's portfolio managers may fail to produce the intended result. The Adviser utilizes various proprietary quantitative models to identify investment opportunities. There is a possibility that one or all of the quantitative models may fail to identify profitable opportunities at any time. Furthermore, they may incorrectly identify opportunities and these misidentified opportunities may lead to substantial losses.

Market Risk: The market value of a security will move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, based upon a change in an issuer's financial condition, as well as overall market and economic conditions. The Fund's portfolio managers will attempt to reduce this risk by implementing various volatility management strategies and techniques. However, there is no guarantee that such strategies and techniques will produce the intended result.

Non-Diversification Risk: Compared with other mutual funds, the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer and may invest in fewer issuers. Therefore, the Fund may have more risk because changes in the value of a single security or the impact of a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence may have a greater adverse impact on the Fund's NAV.

U.S. Government Securities Risk: Investments in certain U.S. government securities may not be supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that the U.S. government will provide financial support to U.S. government agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored enterprises if it is not obligated to do so by law. The maximum potential liability of the issuers of some U.S. government securities held by the Fund may greatly exceed their current resources, and it is possible that these issuers will not have the funds to meet their payment obligations in the future. In such a case, the Fund would have to look principally to the agency, instrumentality or sponsored enterprise issuing or guaranteeing the security for ultimate repayment, and the Fund may not be able to assert a claim against the U.S. government itself in the event the agency, instrumentality or sponsored enterprise does not meet its commitment. Concerns about the capacity of the U.S. government to meet its obligations may raise the interest rates payable on its securities, negatively impacting the price of such securities already held by the Fund.

Valuation Risk: This is the risk that the Fund has valued certain securities at a higher price than the price at which they can be sold. This risk may be especially pronounced for investments, such as derivatives that may be illiquid or may become illiquid.
Risk/Return Bar Chart and Table
Because the Fund has not been in existence for a full calendar year, information related to the Fund’s performance, including a bar chart showing annual returns, has not been included in this Prospectus. The performance information provided by the Fund in the future will give some indication of the risks of an investment in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns compare against those of a broad measure of market performance.