| METROPOLITAN SERIES FUND |
SUMMARY PROSPECTUS April 30, 2012 |
Davis Venture Value Portfolio
Class A, Class B and Class E Shares
Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus and other information about the Portfolio (including the documents listed below) online at www.metlife.com/variablefunds. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-638-7732 or by sending an e-mail request to RCG@metlife.com. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated April 30, 2012, and the Portfolio’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011, including the notes to the financial statements, the financial highlights and the report of the Portfolio’s independent registered public accounting firm, all of which are included in the Annual Report of the Portfolio, dated December 31, 2011, are all incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. This Summary Prospectus is intended for individuals who have purchased certain variable life insurance policies and variable annuity contracts (collectively, “Contracts”) from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and its affiliates and is not intended for use by other investors.
Growth of capital.
Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Portfolio. These fees and expenses are based on the year ended December 31, 2011, and are expressed as a percentage of the Portfolio’s average daily net assets over that period. The table and the Example below do not reflect the fees, expenses or withdrawal charges imposed by the Contracts. See the Contract prospectus for a description of those fees, expenses and charges. If Contract expenses were reflected, the fees and expenses in the table and Example would be higher.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)—None
Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
| Class A | Class B | Class E | ||||||||||
| Management Fee |
0.70% | 0.70% | 0.70% | |||||||||
| Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees |
None | 0.25% | 0.15% | |||||||||
| Other Expenses |
0.03% | 0.03% | 0.03% | |||||||||
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| Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses |
0.73% | 0.98% | 0.88% | |||||||||
| Fee Waiver(1) |
(0.05% | ) | (0.05% | ) | (0.05% | ) | ||||||
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| Net Operating Expenses(1) |
0.68% | 0.93% | 0.83% | |||||||||
| (1) | MetLife Advisers, LLC has contractually agreed, for the period April 30, 2012 through April 30, 2013, to reduce the Management Fee for each Class of the Portfolio to the annual rate of 0.70% for the first $50 million of the Portfolio’s average daily net assets, 0.675% for the next $450 million, 0.65% for the next $4 billion and 0.625% for amounts over $4.5 billion. This arrangement may be modified or discontinued prior to April 30, 2013, only with the approval of the Board of Trustees of the Portfolio. |
Example
The following Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that you reinvest all of your dividends and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The Example also assumes the expiration of the fee waiver agreement after one year. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
| Class A | Class B | Class E | ||||||||||
| 1 Year |
$ | 69 | $ | 95 | $ | 85 | ||||||
| 3 Years |
$ | 228 | $ | 307 | $ | 276 | ||||||
| 5 Years |
$ | 401 | $ | 537 | $ | 483 | ||||||
| 10 Years |
$ | 902 | $ | 1,197 | $ | 1,080 | ||||||
The Portfolio 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. These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 19% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Davis Selected Advisers, L.P. (“Davis”), subadviser to the Portfolio, invests, under normal circumstances, the majority of the Portfolio’s assets in equity securities of companies with market capitalizations of at least $10 billion. Davis manages equity funds using the Davis Investment Discipline. Davis conducts extensive research to identify well-managed companies, with durable business models, that can be purchased at attractive valuations relative to their intrinsic value. Davis emphasizes individual stock selection and believes that the ability to evaluate management is critical. Davis routinely visits managers at their places of business in order to gain insight into the relative value of different businesses. Such research, however rigorous, involves predictions and forecasts that are inherently uncertain. The Portfolio typically invests a significant portion of its assets in the financial services
sector. The Portfolio may also invest in foreign securities, including American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), in companies of any size, and in companies whose shares may be subject to controversy.
Stock Selection
Over the years, Davis has developed a list of characteristics that it believes allow companies to create shareholder value over the long term and manage risk. While few companies possess all of these characteristics at any given time, Davis searches for companies that demonstrate a majority or an appropriate mix of these characteristics:
| • | Proven track record. |
| • | Significant alignment of interest in business. |
| • | Intelligent application of capital. |
| • | Strong balance sheet. |
| • | Low cost structure. |
| • | High returns on capital. |
| • | Non-obsolescent products and services. |
| • | Dominant or growing market share. |
| • | Global presence and brand names. |
After Davis decides which common stocks it wishes to own, it attempts to determine the intrinsic value of those stocks. Davis seeks common stocks which can be purchased at attractive valuations relative to their intrinsic value. Davis’ goal is to invest in companies for the long term. It considers selling a stock if it believes the stock’s market price exceeds Davis’ estimate of the stock’s intrinsic value, or if the ratio of the risks and rewards of continuing to own the stock is no longer attractive.
As with all mutual funds, there is no guarantee that the Portfolio will achieve its investment objective. You could lose money by investing in the Portfolio. An investment in the Portfolio through a Contract is not a deposit or obligation of, or guaranteed by, any bank, and is not federally insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, or any other agency of the U.S. Government.
The value of your investment in the Portfolio may be affected by one or more of the following risks, which are described in more detail in “Primary Risks of Investing in the Portfolio” in the Prospectus, any of which could cause the Portfolio’s return or the price of its shares to decrease or could cause the Portfolio’s yield to fluctuate. Please note that there are many other circumstances that could adversely affect your investment and prevent the Portfolio from reaching its objective, which are not described here.
Market Risk. The Portfolio’s share price can fall because of, among other things, a decline in the market as a whole, deterioration in the prospects for a particular industry or company, or changes in general economic conditions, such as prevailing interest rates and investor sentiment. Significant disruptions to the financial markets could adversely affect the liquidity and volatility of securities held by the Portfolio.
Market Capitalization Risk. Investing primarily in issuers in one market capitalization category (large, medium or small) carries the risk that due to current market conditions that category may be out of favor with investors. Larger, more established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges or attain the high growth rate of successful smaller companies. Stocks of smaller companies may be more volatile than those of larger companies due to, among other things, narrower product lines, more limited financial resources and fewer experienced managers. In addition, there is typically less publicly available information about small capitalization companies, and their stocks may have a more limited trading market than stocks of larger companies.
Investment Style Risk. Different investment styles such as growth or value tend to shift in and out of favor, depending on market and economic conditions as well as investor sentiment. The Portfolio may outperform or underperform other funds that employ a different investment style.
Financial Services Risk. The Portfolio may invest a significant portion of its assets in the financial services sector. Financial services companies may be negatively affected by, among other things, new or revised regulations; interest rate changes or volatility; undiversified loan portfolios which may concentrate risk in areas such as real estate; exposure to investments or agreements (e.g., sub-prime loans) which, under certain circumstances, may lead to losses; increased competition in the financial services sector; and systemic risk, including, among other things, the failure of another, significant financial institution or material disruptions to the credit markets.
Foreign Investment Risk. Investments in foreign securities tend to be more volatile and less liquid than investments in U.S. securities because, among other things, they involve risks relating to political, social and economic developments abroad, as well as risks resulting from differences between the regulations and reporting standards and practices to which U.S. and foreign issuers are subject. To the extent foreign securities are denominated in foreign currencies, their values may be adversely affected by changes in currency exchange rates. All of the risks of investing in foreign securities are typically increased by investing in emerging market countries.
Focused Investment Risk. Substantial investments in a particular market, industry, group of industries, country, region, group of countries, asset class or sector make the Portfolio’s performance more susceptible to any single economic, market, political or regulatory occurrence affecting that particular market, industry, group of industries, country, region, group of countries, asset class or sector than a portfolio that invests more broadly.
Davis Venture Value Portfolio
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The information below shows the volatility of the Portfolio’s returns from year to year and how the Portfolio’s average annual returns over time compare with those of a broad-based securities market index. Both the bar chart and table assume reinvestment of dividends and distributions. Note that the results in the bar chart and table do not include the effect of Contract charges. If these Contract charges had been included, performance would have been lower. As with all mutual funds, past returns are not a prediction of future returns.
The bar chart below shows you the performance of the Portfolio’s Class A shares for the last ten full calendar years and indicates how it has varied from year to year. The Portfolio can also experience short-term performance swings as indicated in the high and low quarter information at the bottom of the chart. The table below compares the Portfolio’s average annual compounded total returns for each class with index returns. For more information about indexes, please see “Index Description” in the Prospectus. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
Year-by-Year Total Return as of December 31 of Each Year
| Highest Quarter |
2nd – 2009 | 20.45% | ||
| Lowest Quarter |
4th – 2008 | -24.07% |
| Average Annual Total Return as of December 31, 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1 Year | 5 Years | 10 Years | Since Inception |
Inception Date | ||||||||||||||
| Class A |
-4.03% | -2.09% | 3.41% | — | — | |||||||||||||
| Class B |
-4.27% | -2.34% | N/A | 5.18% | 7-30-02 | |||||||||||||
| Class E |
-4.18% | -2.24% | 3.25% | — | — | |||||||||||||
| S&P 500 Index |
2.11% | -0.25% | 2.92% | — | — | |||||||||||||
Adviser. MetLife Advisers, LLC (“MetLife Advisers”) is the Portfolio’s investment adviser.
Subadviser. Davis Selected Advisers, L.P. (the “Subadviser”) is the subadviser to the Portfolio.
Portfolio Managers. Christopher C. Davis and Kenneth C. Feinberg have managed the Portfolio since 1995 and 1999, respectively. They share joint decision-making authority in the day-to-day management of the Portfolio.
For information regarding the tax consequences of Contract ownership, please see the prospectus for the relevant Contract.
Payments to Insurance Companies and Their Affiliates
The Portfolio is not sold directly to the general public but instead is offered as an underlying investment option for Contracts issued by insurance companies that are affiliated with the Portfolio and MetLife Advisers. As a result of these affiliations, the insurance companies may benefit more from offering the Portfolio as an investment option in the Contracts than offering other unaffiliated portfolios. The Portfolio and its related companies may also make payments to the sponsoring insurance companies (or their affiliates) for distribution and/or other services. The benefits to the insurance companies of offering the Portfolio over unaffiliated portfolios and these payments may be factors that the insurance companies consider in including the Portfolio as an underlying investment option in the Contracts and may create a conflict of interest. The prospectus for your Contract contains additional information about these payments.
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