N-CSR 1 d662221dncsr.htm NUVEEN INVESTMENT FUNDS, INC. Nuveen Investment Funds, Inc.

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-CSR

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT

INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number 811-05309

Nuveen Investment Funds, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

Nuveen Investments

333 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

Kevin J. McCarthy

Nuveen Investments

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

(Name and address of agent for service)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (312) 917-7700

Date of fiscal year end: December 31

Date of reporting period: December 31, 2013

Form N-CSR is to be used by management investment companies to file reports with the Commission not later than 10 days after the transmission to stockholders of any report that is required to be transmitted to stockholders under Rule 30e-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (17 CFR 270.30e-1). The Commission may use the information provided on Form N-CSR in its regulatory, disclosure review, inspection, and policy making roles.

A registrant is required to disclose the information specified by Form N-CSR, and the Commission will make this information public. A registrant is not required to respond to the collection of information contained in Form N-CSR unless the Form displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) control number. Please direct comments concerning the accuracy of the information collection burden estimate and any suggestions for reducing the burden to Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549-0609. The OMB has reviewed this collection of information under the clearance requirements of 44 U.S.C. ss.3507.


ITEM 1. REPORTS TO STOCKHOLDERS.

 


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Mutual Funds   

 

      
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Annual Report  December 31, 2013

 

              Share Class / Ticker Symbol
    Fund Name        Class A    Class B    Class C    Class R3    Class R6    Class I       

 

 

 

 

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

       FGIAX       FGNCX    FGNRX       FGIYX       
 

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

       NRIAX       NRICX          NRIIX       
 

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

       FREAX    FREBX    FRLCX    FRSSX    FREGX    FARCX       


 

 

     

 

           
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LOGO


Table of Contents

 

Chairman’s Letter to Shareholders

     4   

Portfolio Managers’ Comments

     5   

Risk Considerations

     14   

Dividend Information

     15   

Fund Performance and Expense Ratios

     16   

Holding Summaries

     24   

Expense Examples

     27   

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

     29   

Portfolios of Investments

     30   

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

     49   

Statement of Operations

     50   

Statement of Changes in Net Assets

     51   

Financial Highlights

     54   

Notes to Financial Statements

     60   

Additional Fund Information

     73   

Glossary of Terms Used in this Report

     74   

Annual Investment Management Agreement Approval Process

     76   

Directors and Officers

     82   

 

Nuveen Investments     3   


Chairman’s Letter to Shareholders

 

LOGO

 

Dear Shareholders,

I am pleased to have this opportunity to introduce myself to you as the new independent chairman of the Nuveen Fund Board, effective July 1, 2013. I am honored to have been selected as chairman, with its primary responsibility to serve the interests of the Nuveen Fund shareholders. My predecessor, Robert Bremner, was the first independent director to serve as chairman of the Board and I, and my fellow Board members, plan to continue his legacy of strong independent oversight of your funds.

The global economy has hit major turning points over the last several months to a year. The developed world is gradually recovering from its financial crisis while the emerging markets appear to be struggling with the downshift of China’s growth potential. Japan is entering a new era of growth after decades of economic stagnation and many of the Eurozone nations appear to be exiting their recession. Despite the positive events, there are still potential risks. Middle East tensions, rising oil prices, defaults in Europe and fallout from the financial stress in emerging markets could all reverse the recent progress in the global economy.

On the domestic front, recent events such as the Federal Reserve decision to slow down its bond buying program beginning in January of 2014 and the federal budget compromise that would guide government spending into 2015 are both positives for the economy moving forward. Corporate fundamentals are strong as earnings per share and corporate cash are at the highest level in two decades. Unemployment is trending down and the housing market has experienced a rebound, each assisting the positive economic scenario. However, there are some issues to be watched. Interest rates are expected to increase but significant uncertainty about the timing remains. Partisan politics in Washington D.C. with their troublesome outcomes add to the uncertainties that could cause problems for the economy going forward.

In the near term, governments are focused on economic recovery and the growth of their economies, which could lead to an environment of attractive investment opportunities. Over the long term, the uncertainties mentioned earlier could hinder the potential growth. Because of this, Nuveen’s investment management teams work hard to balance return and risk with a range of investment strategies. I encourage you to read the following commentary on the management of your fund.

On behalf of the other members of the Nuveen Fund Board, we look forward to continuing to earn your trust in the months and years ahead.

Sincerely,

 

LOGO

William J. Schneider

Chairman of the Board

February 21, 2014

 

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Portfolio Managers’ Comments

 

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

These Funds feature portfolio management by Nuveen Asset Management, LLC, an affiliate of Nuveen Investments. For the Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund, Jay L. Rosenberg has been the lead portfolio manager and John G. Wenker has been the co-portfolio manager since its inception in 2007. Tryg T. Sarsland was added as a co-portfolio manager to the Fund in December 2012. For the Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund, Jay has been the lead portfolio manager, while John and Jeffrey T. Schmitz, CFA, have co-managed the Fund since its inception in 2011. For the Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund, John assumed portfolio management responsibilities in 1999, while Jay joined John as a lead portfolio manager of the Fund in 2005 and has served in that capacity since. In addition, co-portfolio manager Scott C. Sedlak joined the Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund’s management team in 2011. On the following pages, the portfolio management teams for these Funds discuss economic and equity market conditions, key investment strategies and the Funds’ performance for the twelve-month reporting period ended December 31, 2013.

Shareholders should note that beginning January, 2014, the Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund began declaring a daily dividend that will be distributed to Shareholders on or near the first business day of the following month.

What factors affected the U.S. economy and the equity market during the twelve-month reporting period ended December 31, 2013?

During the first part of this reporting period, widespread uncertainty about the next step for the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) quantitative easing program and the potential impact on the economy and financial markets led to increased market volatility. After surprising the market in September 2013 with its decision to wait for additional evidence of an improving economy before making any adjustments to the program, the Fed announced on December 18th that it would begin tapering its monthly bond-buying program by $10 billion (to $75 billion) in January 2014.

Early in this reporting period, the outlook for the U.S. economy was clouded by uncertainty about global financial markets and the outcome of the “fiscal cliff.” The tax consequences of the fiscal cliff situation were averted through a last-minute deal that raised payroll taxes, but left in place a number of tax breaks. However, lawmakers failed to reach a resolution on $1.2 trillion in spending cuts intended to address the federal budget deficit. This triggered a program of automatic spending cuts (or sequestration) that impacted federal programs beginning March 1, 2013. Although Congress later passed legislation that established federal funding levels for the remainder of fiscal 2013, the federal budget for fiscal 2014 continued to be debated. On October 1, 2013, the start date for fiscal 2014, the federal government shut

 

 

Certain statements in this report are forward-looking statements. Discussions of specific investments are for illustration only and are not intended as recommendations of individual investments. The forward-looking statements and other views expressed herein are those of the portfolio managers as of the date of this report. Actual future results or occurrences may differ significantly from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements and the views expressed herein are subject to change at any time, due to numerous market and other factors. The Funds disclaim any obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or views expressed herein.

Ratings shown are the highest rating given by one of the following national rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. or Fitch, Inc. Credit ratings are subject to change. AAA, AA, A and BBB are investment grade ratings; BB, B, CCC, CC, C and D are below investment grade ratings. Certain bonds backed by U.S. Government or agency securities are regarded as having an implied rating equal to the rating of such securities. Holdings designated N/R are not rated by these national rating agencies.

 

Nuveen Investments     5   


Portfolio Managers’ Comments (continued)

 

down for 16 days until an interim appropriations bill was signed into law, funding the government at sequestration levels through January 15, 2014, and suspending the debt limit until February 7, 2014. At the end of the reporting period, Congress passed a federal budget deal that would guide government spending into 2015 and defuse the chances of another shutdown. In addition to the ongoing political debate over federal spending, Chairman Bernanke’s June 2013 remarks about tapering the Fed’s asset purchase program touched off widespread uncertainty about the next step for the Fed’s quantitative easing program and about the potential impact on the economy and financial markets, leading to increased market volatility.

In the third quarter of 2013, the U.S. economy, as measured by the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), grew at an annualized rate of 4.1%, up from 2.5% for the second quarter of 2013, continuing the pattern of positive economic growth for the tenth consecutive quarter. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.5% year-over-year as of December 2013, while the core CPI (which excludes food and energy) increased 1.7% during the same period, staying within the Fed’s unofficial objective of 2.0% or lower for this inflation measure. Improvements in the labor markets continued to be slow, and unemployment remained above the Fed’s target of 6.5%. As of December 2013, the national unemployment rate was 6.7%, down from 7.0% in November 2013. The housing market continued to deliver good news, as the average home price in the S&P/Case-Shiller Index of 20 major metropolitan areas rose 13.7% for the twelve months ended November 2013 (most recent data available at the time this report was prepared), the largest twelve-month percentage gain for the index since February 2006.

For much of the reporting period, low interest rates and a fairly benign macro environment caused U.S. investors to move out the risk spectrum, resulting in robust flows into U.S. equity funds. Leading U.S. stock market indexes, including the S&P 500® Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Russell 2000® Index, each hit all-time highs during the reporting period. The S&P 500® Index gained 32.39% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 29.65% during the reporting period.

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

How did the Fund perform during the twelve-month reporting period ended December 31, 2013?

The table in the Fund Performance and Expense Ratios section of this report provides Class A Share total returns for the Fund for the one-year, five-year and since inception periods ended December 31, 2013. For the twelve-month reporting period ending December 31, 2013, the Fund’s Class A Shares at net asset value (NAV) outperformed the Lipper classification average, but underperformed the S&P Global Infrastructure Index.

What strategies were used to manage the Fund during this twelve-month reporting period? How did these strategies influence performance?

The Fund seeks to provide capital appreciation and income potential by investing primarily in equity securities issued by U.S. and non-U.S. companies that typically derive the majority of their value from owned or operated infrastructure assets. During the twelve-month reporting period, our strategy for managing the Fund remained consistent as we focused on buying global infrastructure companies that own and operate long life assets that have visible cash flows, strong balance sheets, manageable amounts of leverage and inelastic demand characteristics. We believe these types of companies will have ongoing access to capital and the best chances for producing sustainable and growing cash flow. The Fund is structured using a number of core infrastructure companies that we believe should provide long-term outperformance versus the market, combined with more opportunistic holdings that we believe are undervalued by the market in the short term. We have exposure around the globe to a mixture of holdings that represent significant value, as well as positions in companies that may prove to be more stable in a slowly growing global economy.

 

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Over the twelve-month reporting period, the Fund benefited from strong stock selection and favorable weightings in several sectors, particularly electric utilities, master limited partnerships (MLPs), water and pipelines. The Fund’s returns were also aided by our long-term strategy to execute a great deal of caution in owning securities from regions where political, fiscal or monetary uncertainty is prominent. During the reporting period, this strategy was helpful in avoiding the electric utilities and water sectors in the U.K. as well as electric utilities in Brazil. We also continued to underweight European economies as political risk remained elevated in that region as it relates to infrastructure, especially in the energy and utility areas. Toll road and airport sectors contributed the most to the Fund’s modest underperformance versus the S&P Global Infrastructure Index. The Fund’s results were hindered by underweights to both of these sectors, as airports and toll roads were two of the stronger performing areas of the benchmark during the reporting period. A small cash position in a strongly advancing market environment was also a drag on the Fund’s return.

Electric utilities was the strongest relative performer as the Fund had a significant underweight in the sector, given our belief that growth and more pro-cyclical areas were likely to earn investor favor in an interest rate environment that was trending higher. We reduced the Fund’s exposure in the regulated electric utilities sector, which looked to have more potential downside risk as these names had not sold off as much as other interest rate sensitive names. We believed the Fund would have better total return investment opportunities in other sectors and that this proved beneficial to relative performance. More specifically, we continued to benefit from our ongoing underweight in euro zone electric utilities and avoidance of Brazilian utilities. Also, we noticed the political winds changing in the U.K. as more politicians began advocating for lower retail power prices. This caused us to move to large underweights in core U.K. positions in the Fund. Within the sector, we continued to focus on investing in stable, regulated companies with long-term contracts or concessions that are not as commodity price sensitive. At the same time, we attempted to avoid exposure in companies that derive their cash flows from spot market generation, or that could be significantly impacted by political and/or regulatory uncertainty.

The MLP sector was the Fund’s second largest contributor to performance and had a significant overweight compared to the benchmark. The Fund’s positive attribution from the MLP sector was fairly evenly split between the overweight to the group as well as stock selection within it. In terms of stock selection, we continued to focus on owning companies where greater than 75% of their earnings coming from fee-based structures and without a lot of commodity price sensitivity. We found good values among some smaller-cap names where we believe the growth potential may be underestimated by the market.

Security selection in water utilities also contributed to performance, which more than offset the negative impact of the Fund’s overweight in this underperforming sector. The Fund’s most significant outperformance came from three out-of-index holdings from China and the U.S. The strongest performer was China Everbright International Limited, a Chinese waste water treatment and alternative energy company that advanced strongly during the reporting period. The company is benefiting from a growing pipeline of new projects, including waste water treatment plants and incineration projects. Another benefactor of broad policy support for environmental services in China was Beijing Enterprises Water Group Limited. While a smaller weight in the portfolio, Beijing Enterprises Water is not represented in the benchmark; therefore, its relative impact was significant given its strong performance. A position in American Water Works Company, Inc., a smaller regional water utility in the U.S., also performed well. In addition, the Fund benefited from a lower-than-historical weight in U.K. water companies, which we avoided, similar to the electric utilities sector, due to some short-term regulatory noise creating uncertainty in the segment. In the pipeline segment, the Fund’s underweight was beneficial as this sector underperformed the overall benchmark return. However, favorable security selection added even more value as the Fund benefited from exposure to many different areas, particularly two larger positions in U.S. pipeline firms. Several out-of-index holdings in Hong Kong, Italy and an underweight to Canadian pipeline firms also

 

Nuveen Investments     7   


Portfolio Managers’ Comments (continued)

 

aided returns as regulatory delays and lower growth profiles of the larger operators in Canada hampered results, while smaller companies with higher expected growth outperformed. Within the sector, we increased weights in pipeline companies that have strong growth potential and in companies such as MLPs that will see accretion through the “drop down” of assets from parent companies.

In the more cyclical toll road sector, the Fund’s underweight to the sector, and particularly two European names that are large weights in the benchmark, hurt relative performance. The Fund had a significant underweight to the Spanish firm Abertis Infraestructuras SA due to its lofty valuation, which we believed was far overstated especially in light of the lackluster prospects for Spanish toll roads. However, Abertis Infraestructuras outperformed during the reporting period due to stock-specific technical reasons as the company continued to buy back shares, but also largely due to falling sovereign debt yields which lifted equities in general. We also had a substantial underweight to the Italian toll road company Atlantia S.p.A., which outperformed as Italian traffic numbers provided an upside surprise during the reporting period. In addition, a position in Brazilian toll road firm CCR S.A. detracted, in part because the Sao Paulo government agreed to halt toll increases in response to protests within the region.

The airport sector was also an area of underperformance, primarily due to the Fund’s underweight versus the benchmark as this segment produced very strong results during the reporting period. The Fund’s underweight was predicated on our belief that airport companies were not attractively valued and also faced a variety of concerning issues and risks. Most of the Fund’s shortfall in the sector resulted from an underweight to Aeroports de Paris SA, the company that runs the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. During the reporting period, the French government decided to sell a large part of its position in the airport, which caused it to modestly outperform.

Thematically in the Fund, we began to increase its beta later in the reporting period, looking for companies with stronger growth potential as a way to offset the impact that rising rates would have on their existing asset base. Overall this meant reductions in both the electric and gas utilities sectors and additions to the rail, waste and port sectors. As an example of moving toward more growth potential, we preferred companies in the gas utilities sector with pipeline assets that could continue to benefit from the domestic energy renaissance. We believe the additional cash flow derived from that asset base should better support their stock prices relative to gas companies that don’t have networks as robust as their competitors. From a country perspective, we modestly added to the Fund’s European exposure (with the exception of Spain) as sovereign debt yields and European Central Bank backing continued to be supportive of equities in those markets. At the same time, we reduced the Fund’s weight to the U.K. based on elevated political risk. The U.K.’s Labour party has moved retail energy policy to the forefront, calling for a tariff freeze on customer electricity charges if they are elected in the next cycle. That policy has created concerns about potential rate freezes for water utilities as well and those companies’ stock prices have also suffered as a result.

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

How did the Fund perform during the twelve-month reporting period ended December 31, 2013?

The table in the Fund Performance and Expense Ratios section of this report provides Class A Share total returns for the Fund for the one-year and since inception periods ended December 31, 2013. For the twelve-month reporting period ending December 31, 2013, the Fund’s Class A Shares at net asset value (NAV) outperformed the Real Asset Income Blend benchmark, but underperformed the Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index and the Lipper classification average.

 

  8       Nuveen Investments


What strategies were used to manage the Fund during this twelve-month reporting period ended December 31, 2013? How did these strategies influence performance?

The Fund seeks to provide a high level of current income and the potential for capital appreciation by investing in a global portfolio of infrastructure and commercial real estate related securities (i.e. real assets) across the capital markets. These securities include a combination of infrastructure and real estate common stock, infrastructure and real estate preferred stock, and infrastructure and real estate related debt. Our goal is to combine these securities into a portfolio that provides investors with an attractive level of income and dampens levels of risk versus the broader equity market. We continued to select securities using an investment process that screens for companies and assets across the real assets market that provide higher yields. From the group of securities providing significant yields, we focus on owning those companies and securities with the highest total return potential in the Fund. Our process places a premium on finding securities whose revenues come from tangible assets with long-term concessions, contracts or leases and are therefore capable of producing steady, predictable and recurring cash flows. The Fund’s management team employs a bottom-up, fundamental approach to security selection and portfolio construction. We look for stable companies that demonstrate consistent and growing cash flow, strong balance sheets and histories of being good stewards of shareholder capital.

During the twelve-month reporting period, the Fund continued to generate a higher level of yield than its Real Asset Income Blend benchmark, while experiencing particularly favorable attribution from three of its five major segments. The Fund’s top-performing area for the reporting period included real estate investment trust (REIT) preferreds, followed by REIT common equity and infrastructure preferred/hybrids. REIT preferred and REIT common equity in particular showed strong results. The high yield portion of the Fund produced returns in line with the benchmark, while the infrastructure common equity portfolio detracted. The Fund also benefited from several strategic asset allocation shifts made during the reporting period.

The REIT preferred portion of the Fund produced strong results relative to its benchmark owing strictly to strong stock selection, which more than made up for our overweight to this underperforming sector. As measured by the BofA/Merrill Lynch REIT Preferred Stock Index, REIT preferreds produced a -11.46% return over the one-year period due to the long durations of many of these securities. However, prior to the Fed’s tapering discussion, we focused the Fund’s REIT preferred exposure almost exclusively on non-rated securities, which we believed would offer protection against rising interest rates as they had a much larger spread to Treasuries. Non-rated securities appeal to a much smaller pool of investors because they don’t have a preferred rating, which means we can often find pricing inefficiencies in the market, however, at the same time, can offer yields that are quite a bit more attractive than their rated counterparts. Although most of the Fund’s non-rated exposure was in cumulative preferred securities, we also own various convertible preferreds that offer an acceptable level of yield with the option of upside potential. The Fund’s non-rated securities did exhibit duration protection during the twelve-month reporting period as they outperformed rated preferred securities by a significant margin.

The Fund also outperformed in the REIT common equity arena due to strong security selection, again despite the headwinds caused by the sector’s underperformance and our overweight to this area. In this portion of the Fund, we experienced favorable returns from our out-of-index exposure to commercial mortgage REITs that originate floating rate mortgages. These securities strongly outperformed the return of the REIT common equity sector during the reporting period, as measured by the MSCI U.S. REIT Index. Well before the Fed began its tapering discussion, we believed REIT common equities were overvalued and moved into these commercial mortgage REITs (both common equity and convertible bonds) at prices that were close to book value. As interest rates rise, we believe these companies will continue to trade at larger premiums to book value as they undertake accretive transactions.

 

Nuveen Investments     9   


Portfolio Managers’ Comments (continued)

 

Our infrastructure preferred/hybrid portfolio also outperformed relative to the index as it benefited from our positioning for a rising interest rate environment. The majority of the Fund’s infrastructure preferred/hybrid portfolio was invested in non-U.S. hybrid securities that have a fixed-to-floating rate structure whereby they change to a floating rate security after five years. These securities outperformed because of their lower perceived duration risk compared to long-maturity perpetual preferred securities as rates moved higher.

The high yield portion of the Fund fell in line with the index during the reporting period. Investors returned to the asset class during the second half of the reporting period in the wake of the Fed’s “no taper” decision, after the segment’s dramatic sell-off in June. However, the high yield asset class still had net outflows of $3.4 billion, only the sixth time since 1984 that this market segment has posted withdrawals. The spread between high yield and Treasuries tightened by 110 basis points during the twelve-month period to end the year at 428 basis points. Given the benign credit environment seen over the course of the past two years, few investors were overly concerned with credit risk as most wanted to avoid interest rate risk. As a result, over the course of 2013 the lower quality tiers of high yield outpaced higher rated securities. The Fund’s high yield performance benefited from our overweights in the pipeline, health care and utilities sectors. However, a lack of exposure to the more economically sensitive areas of the industrials sector, which are not part of the Fund’s infrastructure/real estate mandate, detracted as those areas were the strongest performers.

The Fund’s only significant sector detractor on a relative basis during reporting the period was infrastructure common equity. The shortfall was due to a combination of an underweight position in what turned out to be the highest returning sector in our blended benchmark and our focus on the highest yielding areas within the sector. Infrastructure common equity makes up 33% of the benchmark, while the Fund had a smaller exposure in the asset class. As measured by the S&P Global Infrastructure Index, the sector returned 14.99% during the reporting period ended December 31, 2013. The reason we so significantly underweighted this segment versus the benchmark was because of our focus on the higher yielding names, which we correctly anticipated would have more sensitivity to rising rates. Our infrastructure common equity exposure focuses on securities that pay out the majority of their cash flows and that have more mature, stable assets and less cyclicality. Overall, during the reporting period, the higher beta, more cyclical names within the segment outperformed the higher yielding, more defensive names.

When the Fed mentioned the possibility of tapering last May, we believed that companies with higher potential growth and less sensitivity to interest rate moves would most likely outperform. Therefore, we made a concerted effort to begin shifting the Fund’s exposure toward companies that could generate growth, while still meeting our yield hurdles. This shift included reducing the Fund’s fixed income exposure and increasing its equity exposure (either common equity or convertible type investments). It has also meant moving toward more floating rate and fixed-to-floating rate hybrid securities, which also offer some interest rate protection.

In terms of the Fund’s asset class weights, its infrastructure preferred/hybrid exposure remained about the same during the reporting period. We sold some of the Fund’s perpetual securities that had the most duration risk, while increasing its weight in hybrid securities. In the REIT preferred space, we reduced exposure, particularly early in the reporting period before the segment’s sell-off, due to the duration risk posed by these securities. However, the Fund’s REIT preferred exposure remained overweight versus the blended benchmark’s. We increased exposure in the infrastructure common equity sector, while still remaining significantly below the benchmark’s allocation. The Fund’s REIT common equity exposure decreased during the reporting period, but with more exposure within the sector to floating rate mortgage REITs. With the continued prospect of higher rates, we believed commercial mortgage REITs could participate in that market instead of presenting only duration risk. Within the high yield portfolio, we maintained approximately the

 

  10       Nuveen Investments


same weight throughout the reporting period. Our trades were focused on finding attractive opportunities further down the credit spectrum in CCC-rated securities versus taking longer duration bets with securities in the higher BB-rated category. At the end of the reporting period, we owned high yield securities spread across the U.S., emerging markets and European markets and diversified among a number of real asset categories, with the greatest concentrations in the industrial, pipeline, utility, hospital and technology infrastructure sectors.

We also slightly increased the Fund’s overall U.S. exposure during the reporting period as a result of the increase in U.S. domiciled equity and commercial mortgage REITs. However, our long-term target for geographic distribution in the Fund remains at roughly 50% U.S. exposure and 50% non-U.S. exposure.

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

How did the Fund perform during the twelve-month reporting period ended December 31, 2013?

The table in the Fund Performance and Expense Ratios section of this report provides Class A Share total returns for the Fund for the one-year, five-year and ten-year periods ended December 31, 2013. For the twelve-month reporting period ending December 31, 2013, the Fund’s Class A Shares at net asset value (NAV) underperformed the MSCI U.S. REIT Index and the Lipper classification average.

What strategies were used to manage the Fund during this twelve-month reporting period ended December 31, 2013 ? How did these strategies influence performance?

The Fund seeks to provide above average income potential and long-term capital appreciation by investing in income producing common stocks of publicly traded companies engaged in the real estate industry. During the twelve-month reporting period, we continued to implement the Fund’s strategy of investing on a relative value basis with a focus on individual stocks rather than economic or market cycles. We also continued to invest the Fund in a fairly sector neutral manner, with a goal of providing a well-diversified portfolio of public real estate stocks to our shareholders. A sector neutral approach reduces the impact of any one property type on performance. Additionally, we continued to invest in a broader universe of stocks than our benchmark index to access more dynamic parts of the commercial real estate cycle.

The public commercial real estate sector significantly underperformed the broad U.S. stock market by nearly 30% in 2013 as the MSCI U.S. REIT Index was up 2.47% versus the S&P 500® Index gain of 32.39%. The headwinds in the REIT sector were largely interest rate induced as the market experienced a back-up in yields near the end of the second quarter, when the Fed began discussing the potential tapering of its monthly bond purchases, which subsequently continued through the end of the year. However, REIT fundamentals generally remained rather stable in the face of the interest rate move experienced over this time frame. The majority of REITs generally have solid balance sheets and growing dividend yields as they pass through much of the income growth they have experienced to shareholders. Payout ratios increased significantly over the year and dividends continued to experience growth. Relative to historic averages, REITs still enjoy a very low cost of capital and the outlook for operating fundamentals is largely unchanged. We believe net operating income across the space looks set for another year of growth above long-term averages, while supply in most major property sectors continues to be well contained.

Several sectors detracted during the reporting period, including hotel REITs, student housing, malls and net lease, and led to the Fund’s underperformance relative to its benchmark and Lipper peers. The hotel REIT sector as a whole continued to perform well relative to other real estate sectors, posting the strongest one-year returns during a difficult period for REITs overall. Thematically in the Fund, our preference for select service and smaller names within the group

 

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Portfolio Managers’ Comments (continued)

 

hurt performance relative to the benchmark. While group bookings showed some improvement during the reporting period, we were concerned about the relatively disappointing results from the group side where the larger, full service hotels have greater exposure. Therefore, our preference was to have a greater weight in the select service segment, which has much less exposure to group business. This theme detracted from the Fund’s performance relative to the benchmark during the reporting period with the bulk of the underperformance coming from our underweight to the largest player in the space, Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.

In student housing, the Fund’s significant overweight to American Campus Communities, Inc., was primarily responsible for its shortfall. This very high quality, well-managed company underperformed as its lease signings substantially lagged the previous year’s level. While we continued to have confidence in American Campus’ ability to catch up to the prior year’s numbers, the market lacked that confidence and sold the stock off sharply starting in the second quarter. Based on its attractive valuation and our belief that the market had oversold the name, we held our position but it continued to underperform throughout the remainder of the year.

The Fund’s underperformance in the mall sector was primarily due to its overweight position in this underperforming sector. The net lease sector was also a detractor to the Fund’s relative results, despite the fact it represents a relatively small part of the index. The Fund’s shortfall was primarily due to its underweight position in the sector. After a considerably strong run, we had reduced select holdings in the net lease space based on valuation. We believed their valuations were not supported by the group’s lower growth profile as they generally have rather high payout ratios. These companies also typically have longer leases and are less able to quickly adjust their lease rates as interest rates rise, which hurts their profitability outlook. However, our underweight to net lease as a whole hindered the Fund as the sector significantly outperformed the broader index during the reporting period.

On the other hand, the Fund’s performance benefited from three sectors: industrial, self-storage and mortgage REITs. Within industrials, stock selection across the sector and an overweight position drove our favorable results, as the group outperformed the overall REIT universe. The Fund benefited from a combination of overweight positions in a few smaller companies with strong expected growth rates, along with mild overweight exposure to some higher-yielding names.

In self-storage, the Fund’s strong relative performance resulted from overweight positions in three of the four names that make up the entirety of the sector. The Fund’s overweight was predicated on our belief that the underlying fundamentals within the group were the strongest within the investment universe. Self-storage REITs maintained the strongest net operating income growth. Supply within the group was well contained with very little development on the horizon and REITs, with their superior size, access to inexpensive capital and ability to leverage operating efficiencies, continued to seek out external growth opportunities that may be accretive to their businesses. We believed this backdrop, combined with the shorter lease terms that govern self-storage assets, would put them in an advantageous position relative to other sectors, especially in the face of rising interest rates. Indeed, self-storage was the one of the stronger performing sectors within real estate.

Mortgage REITs were the next largest contributor of relative performance versus the benchmark. Although the Fund maintained a small exposure to the group, the MSCI U.S. REIT Index has virtually no exposure to the sector. Our holdings in this sector are concentrated in commercial mortgage REITs rather than residential mortgage REITs. The Fund’s holdings contributed nicely to returns both from an absolute as well as a relative perspective. As a group, mortgage REITs significantly outperformed the overall benchmark return during the reporting period.

 

  12       Nuveen Investments


As is typical for the strategy from a management perspective, variations in the Fund were on the margin and were generated from the bottom up, affecting individual company holdings. After a meaningful period of outperformance by smaller, more highly leveraged companies, we believed that select high quality, larger-cap names appeared attractively valued. While we always keep the Fund diversified by sector and market capitalization, we have a quality bias as we go forward in 2014. Thematically within the Fund, we shifted to a bias toward companies that operate under shorter lease terms to help decrease the interest rate sensitivity of the portfolio. We believe these companies will benefit from the ability to re-price leases more quickly in what we anticipate will be an environment of modestly upward trending interest rates in 2014. For example, we added to the Fund’s self-storage weight and maintained lighter exposures to companies with longer lease profiles like net-lease and health care. Companies that operate under longer term leases and those that have been owned as bond proxies due to their high dividends remain under pressure.

 

Nuveen Investments     13   


Risk Considerations

 

Risk Considerations

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

Mutual fund investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. Concentration in infrastructure-related securities involves sector risk and concentration risk, particularly greater exposure to adverse economic, regulatory, political, legal, liquidity, and tax risks associated with MLPs and REITS. Foreign investments involve additional risks including currency fluctuations and economic and political instability. These risks are magnified in emerging markets. Common stocks are subject to market risk or the risk of decline. Small- and mid-cap stocks are subject to greater price volatility. The use of derivatives involves substantial financial risks and transaction costs. The fund’s potential investment in other investment companies means shareholders bear their proportionate share of fund expenses and indirectly, the expenses of other investment companies. Fund investments in ETFs may involve tracking error. Preferred securities may involve greater credit risk than other debt instruments.

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

Mutual fund investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. Equity investments such as those held by the fund, are subject to market risk, call risk, derivatives risk, other investment companies risk, common stock risk, and tax risks associated with MLPs. Concentration in specific sectors may involve greater risk and volatility than more diversified investments: real estate sector involves the risk of exposure to economic downturns and changes in real estate values, rents, property taxes, interest rates and tax laws; infrastructure-related securities may involve greater exposure to adverse economic, regulatory, political, legal, and other changes affecting such securities. Foreign investments involve additional risks, including currency fluctuation, political and economic instability, lack of liquidity, and differing legal and accounting standards. These risks are magnified in emerging markets. Investments in small- and mid-cap companies are subject to greater volatility. In addition, the fund will bear its proportionate share of any fees and expenses paid by the ETFs in which it invests.

Debt or fixed income securities such as those held by the Fund, are subject to market risk, credit risk, interest rate risk and income risk. As interest rates rise, bond prices fall. Below investment grade or high yield debt securities are subject to liquidity risk and heightened credit risk. Preferred securities are subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure and therefore are subject to greater credit risk. Asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities are subject to additional risks such as prepayment risk, liquidity risk, default risk and adverse economic developments.

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

Mutual fund investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. Common stocks and REITs such as those held in the fund involve market risk, concentration risk, sector risk, and non-diversification risk. The real estate industry is greatly affected by economic downturns that may persist as well as changes in property values, taxes, and regulatory developments. Foreign investments involve additional risks including currency fluctuations, and economic or political instability. These risks are magnified in emerging markets. The use of derivatives involves substantial financial risks and transaction costs. Small cap stocks may experience more volatility than large cap stocks.

 

  14       Nuveen Investments


Dividend Information

 

For Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund, dividends from net investment income, if any, are normally declared and paid quarterly. In addition, any capital gains are normally distributed at least once each year. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013 for Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund, re-characterization of distributions reported by the REITs, significantly offset net investment income. As a result, and as outlined in the table below, a portion of the Fund’s distributions originally characterized as net investment income has now been re-characterized as a return of capital.

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

 

As of December 31, 2013

    
 
Class A
Shares
  
  
    
 
Class B
Shares
  
  
    
 
Class C
Shares
  
  
    
 
Class R3
Shares
  
  
    
 
Class R6
Shares
  
  
    
 
Class I
Shares
  
  

Inception date

     9/29/95         9/29/95         2/1/00         9/24/01         4/30/13         6/30/95   

Fiscal year (calendar year) ended December 31, 2013

                 

Per share distribution:

                 

From net investment income

   $ 0.29       $ 0.12       $ 0.12       $ 0.24       $ 0.23       $ 0.35   

From net realized capital gains

     1.35         1.35         1.35         1.35         1.35         1.35   

Return of capital

     0.13         0.13         0.13         0.13         0.13         0.13   

Total per share distribution

   $ 1.77       $ 1.60       $ 1.60       $ 1.72       $ 1.71       $ 1.83   

Net Asset Value (NAV)

   $ 19.46       $ 18.98       $ 19.03       $ 19.72       $ 19.72       $ 19.70   

Distribution rate on NAV

     9.10      8.43      8.41      8.72      8.67      9.29

Average annual total returns:

                 

1-Year on NAV

     1.04      0.29      0.25      0.75      (10.88) %*       1.32

5-Year on NAV

     16.85      15.98      15.97      16.56      N/A         17.15

10-Year on NAV

     9.74      8.92      8.92      9.48      N/A         10.02

N/A – Not applicable.

* Represents the since inception (cumulative) total return on NAV.

 

Nuveen Investments     15   


Fund Performance and Expense Ratios

 

The Fund Performance and Expense Ratios for each Fund are shown on the following six pages.

Returns quoted represent past performance, which is no guarantee of future results. Current performance may be higher or lower than the performance shown. Investment returns and principal value will fluctuate so that when shares are redeemed, they may be worth more or less than their original cost. Returns without sales charges would be lower if the sales charge were included. Returns do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.

Returns may reflect a contractual agreement between certain Funds and the investment adviser to waive certain fees and expenses; see Notes to Financial Statements, Note 7—Management Fees and Other Transactions with Affiliates for more information. In addition, returns may reflect a voluntary expense limitation by the Funds’ investment adviser that may be modified or discontinued at any time without notice. For the most recent month-end performance visit www.nuveen.com or call (800) 257-8787.

Returns reflect differences in sales charges and expenses, which are primarily differences in distribution and service fees. Fund returns assume reinvestment of dividends and capital gains.

Comparative index and Lipper return information is provided for the Funds’ Class A Shares at net asset value (NAV) only.

The expense ratios shown reflect the Funds’ total operating expenses (before fee waiver and/or expense reimbursements, if any) as shown in the Funds’ most recent prospectus. The expense ratios include management fees and other fees and expenses.

 

  16       Nuveen Investments


 

 

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

 

 

 

 

 

Nuveen Investments     17   


Fund Performance and Expense Ratios (continued)

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

 

Refer to the first page of this Fund Performance and Expense Ratios section for further explanation of the information included within this page.

Fund Performance

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2013

 

       Average Annual  
       

1-Year

      

5-Year

      

Since
Inception*

 

Class A Shares at NAV

       14.73%           14.41%           4.51%   

Class A Shares at maximum Offering Price

       8.16%           13.07%           3.49%   

S&P Global Infrastructure Index**

       14.99%           11.17%           0.99%   

Lipper Specialty/Miscellaneous Funds Classification Average**

       7.16%           14.16%           3.03%   

Class C Shares

       13.90%           13.59%           13.70%   

Class R3 Shares

       14.40%           14.03%           14.16%   

Class I Shares

       15.03%           14.69%           4.76%   

Class A Shares have a maximum 5.75% sales charge (Offering Price). Class A Share purchases of $1 million or more are sold at net asset value without an up-front sales charge but may be subject to a contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC), also known as a back-end sales charge, if redeemed within twelve months of purchase. Class C Shares have a 1% CDSC for redemptions within less than twelve months, which is not reflected in the one-year total return. Class R3 Shares have no sales charge and are only available for purchase by eligible retirement plans. Class I Shares have no sales charge and may be purchased under limited circumstances or by specified classes of investors.

Expense Ratios as of Most Recent Prospectus

 

       Share Class  
       

Class A

      

Class C

      

Class R3

      

Class I

 

Gross Expense Ratios

       1.42%           2.18%           1.65%           1.17%   

Net Expense Ratios

       1.24%           1.99%           1.49%           0.99%   

The Fund’s investment adviser has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses through April 30, 2014 so that total annual Fund operating expenses (excluding 12b-1 distribution and/or service fees, interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees incurred in acquiring and disposing of portfolio securities and extraordinary expenses) do not exceed 1.00% of the average daily net assets of any class of Fund shares. The expense limitation expiring April 30, 2014 may be terminated or modified prior to that date only with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Fund.

 

  18       Nuveen Investments


Growth of an Assumed $10,000 Investment as of December 31, 2013 – Class A Shares

 

LOGO

The graphs do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder may pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.

 

* Since inception returns for Class A and Class I Shares, and for the comparative index and Lipper classification average, are from 12/17/07; since inception returns for Class C and Class R3 Shares are from 11/03/08.

 

** Refer to the Glossary of Terms Used in this Report for definitions. Indexes and Lipper averages are not available for direct investment.

 

Nuveen Investments     19   


Fund Performance and Expense Ratios (continued)

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

 

Refer to the first page of this Fund Performance and Expense Ratios section for further explanation of the information included within this page.

Fund Performance

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2013

 

       Average Annual  
       

1-Year

      

Since
Inception*

 

Class A Shares at NAV

       6.13%           11.42%   

Class A Shares at maximum Offering Price

       0.02%           8.58%   

Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index**

       7.44%           11.73%   

Real Asset Income Blend**

       3.79%           9.50%   

Lipper Global Flexible Portfolio Funds Classification Average**

       8.90%           9.34%   

Class C Shares

       5.38%           10.61%   

Class I Shares

       6.40%           11.69%   

Class A Shares have a maximum 5.75% sales charge (Offering Price). Class A Share purchases of $1 million or more are sold at net asset value without an up-front sales charge but may be subject to a contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC), also known as a back-end sales charge, if redeemed within twelve months of purchase. Class C Shares have a 1% CDSC for redemptions within less than twelve months, which is not reflected in the one-year total return. Class I Shares have no sales charge and may be purchased under limited circumstances or by specified classes of investors.

Expense Ratios as of Most Recent Prospectus

 

       Share Class  
       

Class A

      

Class C

      

Class I

 

Gross Expense Ratios

       1.65%           2.30%           1.49%   

Net Expense Ratios

       1.17%           1.92%           0.92%   

The Fund’s investment adviser has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses through April 30, 2014 so that total annual Fund operating expenses (excluding 12b-1 distribution and/or service fees, interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees incurred in acquiring and disposing of portfolio securities and extraordinary expenses) do not exceed 0.95% of the average daily net assets of any class of Fund shares. The expense limitation expiring April 30, 2014, may be terminated or modified prior to that date only with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Fund.

 

  20       Nuveen Investments


Growth of an Assumed $10,000 Investment as of December 31, 2013 – Class A Shares

 

LOGO

The graphs do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder may pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.

 

 

* Since inception returns are from 9/13/11.

 

** Refer to the Glossary of Terms Used in this Report for definitions. Indexes and Lipper averages are not available for direct investment.

 

Nuveen Investments     21   


Fund Performance and Expense Ratios (continued)

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

 

Refer to the first page of this Fund Performance and Expense Ratios section for further explanation of the information included within this page.

Fund Performance

Average Annual Total Returns as of December 31, 2013

 

       Average Annual  
       

1-Year

      

5-Year

      

10-Year

 

Class A Shares at NAV

       1.04%           16.85%           9.74%   

Class A Shares at maximum Offering Price

       (4.76)%           15.48%           9.09%   

MSCI U.S. REIT Index*

       2.47%           16.73%           8.40%   

Lipper Real Estate Funds Classification Average*

       1.70%           16.41%           7.77%   

Class B Shares w/o CDSC

       0.29%           15.98%           8.92%   

Class B Shares w/CDSC

       (4.33)%           15.87%           8.92%   

Class C Shares

       0.25%           15.97%           8.92%   

Class R3 Shares

       0.75%           16.56%           9.48%   

Class I Shares

       1.32%           17.15%           10.02%   

 

       Cumulative  
       

Since
Inception**

 

Class R6 Shares

       (10.88)%   

Class A Shares have a maximum 5.75% sales charge (Offering Price). Class A Share purchases of $1 million or more are sold at net asset value without an up-front sales charge but may be subject to a contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC), also known as a back-end sales charge, if redeemed within twelve months of purchase. Class B Shares have a CDSC that begins at 5% for redemptions during the first year and declines periodically until after six years when the charge becomes 0%. Class B Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares eight years after purchase. Class C Shares have a 1% CDSC for redemptions within less than twelve months, which is not reflected in the one-year total return. Class R3 Shares have no sales charge and are only available for purchase by eligible retirement plans. Class R6 Shares have no sales charge and are available only to certain limited categories of investors as described in the prospectus. Class I Shares have no sales charge and may be purchased under limited circumstances or by specified classes of investors.

Expense Ratios as of Most Recent Prospectus

 

       Share Class  
       

Class A

      

Class B

      

Class C

      

Class R3

      

Class R6

      

Class I

 

Expense Ratios

       1.28%           2.03%           2.03%           1.53%           0.90%           1.03%   

 

  22       Nuveen Investments


Growth of an Assumed $10,000 Investment as of December 31, 2013 – Class A Shares

 

LOGO

The graphs do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder may pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares.

 

 

* Refer to the Glossary of Terms Used in this Report for definitions. Indexes and Lipper averages are not available for direct investment.

 

** Since inception return for Class R6 Shares is from 4/30/13.

 

Nuveen Investments     23   


Holding Summaries December 31, 2013

 

This data relates to the securities held in each Fund’s portfolio of investments. It should not be construed as a measure of performance for the Fund itself.

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

 

Portfolio Allocation1

 

Common Stocks

       94.1%   

Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks

       2.9%   

Investment Companies

       0.3%   

Short-Term Investments

       1.7%   

Other2

       1.0%   

Country Allocation1

 

United States4

       41.0%   

Canada

       9.4%   

Hong Kong

       6.6%   

France

       5.5%   

Australia

       5.5%   

Italy

       4.8%   

United Kingdom

       3.6%   

Singapore

       3.0%   

New Zealand

       2.6%   

Other5

       18.0%   

Portfolio Composition1

 

Transportation Infrastructure

       25.0%   

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

       20.5%   

Multi-Utilities

       13.9%   

Electric Utilities

       10.9%   

Gas Utilities

       6.7%   

Road & Rail

       4.9%   

Short-Term Investments

       1.7%   

Other3

       16.4%   

Top Five Common Stock & Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stock Holdings1

 

Enbridge Inc.

       3.9%   

Spectra Energy Corporation

       2.9%   

National Grid PLC, Sponsored ADR

       2.9%   

Atlantia SpA

       2.8%   

Transurban Group

       2.7%   
 

 

1 As a percentage of net assets. Holdings are subject to change.

 

2 Other assets less liabilities, which includes borrowings as presented in the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments.

 

3 Includes other assets less liabilities, which includes borrowings as presented in the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments and all industries less than 4.9% of net assets.

 

4 Includes short-term investments and other assets less liabilities, which includes borrowings as presented in the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments.

 

5 Includes all countries less than 2.6% of net assets.

 

  24       Nuveen Investments


Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

 

Portfolio Allocation1

 

Common Stocks

       22.6%   

Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks

       19.0%   

Convertible Preferred Securities

       3.0%   

$25 Par (or similar) Retail Structures

       24.0%   

Convertible Bonds

       2.3%   

Corporate Bonds

       19.0%   

$1,000 Par (or similar) Institutional Structures

       4.5%   

Common Stock Right

       –%6   

Investment Companies

       1.0%   

Short-Term Investments

       3.5%   

Other2

       1.1%   

Country Allocation1

 

United States4

       69.6%   

Australia

       6.1%   

United Kingdom

       4.2%   

Hong Kong

       3.6%   

Other5

       16.5%   

Portfolio Composition1

 

Real Estate Investment Trust

       23.4%   

Electric Utilities

       11.2%   

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

       8.1%   

Transportation Infrastructure

       7.3%   

Specialized

       6.8%   

Multi-Utillities

       6.6%   

Mortgage

       4.1%   

Retail

       3.4%   

Health Care Providers & Services

       3.2%   

Diversified

       2.5%   

Common Stock Right

       –%6   

Short-Term Investments

       3.5%   

Other3

       19.9%   

Top Five Common Stock & Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stock Holdings1

 

National Grid PLC, Sponsored ADR

       2.9%   

Atlantia SpA

       2.5%   

Hutchison Port Holdings Trust

       1.8%   

Transurban Group

       1.7%   

Liberty Property Trust

       1.6%   
 

 

1 As a percentage of net assets. Holdings are subject to change.

 

2 Other assets less liabilities.

 

3 Includes other assets less liabilities and all industries less than 2.5% of net assets.

 

4 Includes short-term investments and other assets less liabilities.

 

 

5 Includes all countries less than 3.6% of net assets.

 

6 Rounds to less than 0.1%.

 

Nuveen Investments     25   


Holding Summaries December 31, 2013 (continued)

 

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

 

Portfolio Allocation1

 

Common Stocks

       1.7%   

Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks

       97.2%   

$25 Par (or similar) Retail Structures

       0.1%   

Convertible Bonds

       0.2%   

Investment Companies

       0.1%   

Other2

       0.7%   

Portfolio Composition1

 

Retail

       28.0%   

Specialized

       26.7%   

Office

       12.9%   

Residential

       12.7%   

Diversified

       8.4%   

Industrial

       8.1%   

Other3

       3.2%   

Top Five Common Stock & Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stock Holdings1

 

Simon Property Group, Inc.

       11.3%   

Public Storage, Inc.

       6.2%   

Prologis Inc.

       5.8%   

Boston Properties, Inc.

       4.2%   

Vornado Realty Trust

       3.5%   
 

 

 

 

1 As a percentage of net assets. Holdings are subject to change.

 

2 Other assets less liabilities, which includes investments purchased with collateral from securities lending and borrowings as presented in the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments.

 

3 Includes other assets less liabilities, which includes investments purchased with collateral from securities lending and borrowings as presented in the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments and all industries less than 8.1% of net assets.

 

  26       Nuveen Investments


Expense Examples

 

As a shareholder of one or more of the Funds, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including up-front and back-end sales charges (loads) or redemption fees, where applicable; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees; distribution and service (12b-1) fees, where applicable; and other Fund expenses. The Examples below are intended to help you understand your ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Funds and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.

The Examples below are based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held through the period.

The information under “Actual Performance,” together with the amount you invested, allows you to estimate actual expenses incurred over the reporting period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.60) and multiply the result by the cost shown for your share class, in the row entitled “Expenses Incurred During Period” to estimate the expenses incurred on your account during this period.

The information under “Hypothetical Performance,” provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the respective Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expense you incurred for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other Funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of the other funds.

Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transaction costs. Therefore, the hypothetical information is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds or share classes. In addition, if these transaction costs were included, your costs would have been higher.

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

 

     Actual Performance      Hypothetical Performance
(5% annualized return before expenses)
 
     

A Shares

    

C Shares

    

R3 Shares

    

I Shares

    

A Shares

    

C Shares

    

R3 Shares

    

I Shares

 

Beginning Account Value (7/01/13)

   $ 1,000.00       $ 1,000.00       $ 1,000.00       $ 1,000.00       $ 1,000.00       $ 1,000.00       $ 1,000.00       $ 1,000.00   

Ending Account Value (12/31/13)

   $ 1,102.30       $ 1,097.40       $ 1,100.80       $ 1,103.10       $ 1,019.00       $ 1,015.22       $ 1,017.74       $ 1,020.27   

Expenses Incurred During Period

   $ 6.52       $ 10.47       $ 7.84       $ 5.19       $ 6.26       $ 10.06       $ 7.53       $ 4.99   

For each class of the Fund, expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized net expense ratio of 1.23%, 1.98%, 1.48% and 0.98% for Classes A, C, R3 and I, respectively, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 184/365 (to reflect the one-half year period).

 

Nuveen Investments     27   


Expense Examples (continued)

 

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

 

       Actual Performance        Hypothetical Performance
(5% annualized return before expenses)
 
       

A Shares

      

C Shares

      

I Shares

      

A Shares

      

C Shares

      

I Shares

 

Beginning Account Value (7/01/13)

     $ 1,000.00         $ 1,000.00         $ 1,000.00         $ 1,000.00         $ 1,000.00         $ 1,000.00   

Ending Account Value (12/31/13)

     $ 1,026.40         $ 1,023.00         $ 1,027.70         $ 1,019.31         $ 1,015.53         $ 1,020.57   

Expenses Incurred During Period

     $ 5.98         $ 9.79         $ 4.70         $ 5.96         $ 9.75         $ 4.69   

For each class of the Fund, expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized net expense ratio of 1.17%, 1.92% and 0.92% for Classes A, C and I, respectively, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 184/365 (to reflect the one-half year period).

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

 

    Actual Performance      Hypothetical Performance
(5% annualized return before expenses)
 
    

A Shares

   

B Shares

   

C Shares

   

R3 Shares

   

R6 Shares

   

I Shares

    

A Shares

   

B Shares

   

C Shares

   

R3 Shares

   

R6 Shares

   

I Shares

 

Beginning Account Value (7/01/13)

 

$

1,000.00

  

  $ 1,000.00      $ 1,000.00      $ 1,000.00      $ 1,000.00      $ 1,000.00       $ 1,000.00      $ 1,000.00      $ 1,000.00      $ 1,000.00      $ 1,000.00      $ 1,000.00   

Ending Account Value (12/31/13)

 

$

963.00

  

  $ 959.50      $ 959.20      $ 961.90      $ 965.30      $ 964.40       $ 1,018.80      $ 1,015.07      $ 1,015.02      $ 1,017.54      $ 1,020.82      $ 1,020.06   

Expenses Incurred During Period

  $ 6.28      $ 9.93      $ 9.98      $ 7.52      $ 4.31      $ 5.05       $ 6.46      $ 10.21      $ 10.26      $ 7.73      $ 4.43      $ 5.19   

For each class of the Fund, expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized net expense ratio of 1.27%, 2.01%, 2.02%, 1.52%, 0.87% and 1.02% for Classes A, B, C, R3, R6 and I, respectively, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 184/365 (to reflect the one-half year period).

 

  28       Nuveen Investments


Report of Independent Registered

Public Accounting Firm

 

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund:

In our opinion, the accompanying statements of assets and liabilities, including the portfolios of investments, and the related statements of operations and of changes in net assets and the financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund, Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund, and Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund (hereinafter referred to as the “Funds”) at December 31, 2013, the results of each of their operations for the year then ended, the changes in each of their net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended and the financial highlights for each of the two years in the period then ended and for the two months ended December 31, 2011 for Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund and Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund and for the periods presented for Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. These financial statements and financial highlights (hereafter referred to as “financial statements”) are the responsibility of the Funds’ management; our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits of these financial statements in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits, which included confirmation of securities at December 31, 2013 by correspondence with the custodian and brokers, provide a reasonable basis for our opinion. The financial statement highlights for each of the three years in the period ended October 31, 2011 of the Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund and Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund were audited by other auditors whose report dated December 28, 2011 expressed an unqualified opinion on those statements, except for the reclassification of certain financial statement line items in the financial highlights for the year ended October 31, 2011 for the Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund as to which the date is February 29, 2012.

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP

Chicago, IL

February 27, 2014

 

Nuveen Investments     29   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

 

Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS – 97.3%

           
 

COMMON STOCKS – 94.1%

           
 

Air Freight & Logistics – 1.4%

           
  188,021     

BPost SA

            $ 3,675,579   
  28,893     

Oesterreichische Post AG

              1,382,444   
  3,956,464     

Singapore Post Limited

                    4,154,138   
 

Total Air Freight & Logistics

                    9,212,161   
 

Commercial Services & Supplies – 4.3%

           
  2,999,886     

China Everbright International Limited

              4,015,684   
  449,463     

Covanta Holding Corporation

              7,977,968   
  218,078     

IESI_BFC Limited

              5,397,431   
  1,251,483     

K-Green Trust

              1,036,332   
  55,449     

SP Plus Corporation, (2)

              1,443,892   
  184,149     

Waste Connections Inc.

                    8,034,421   
 

Total Commercial Services & Supplies

                    27,905,728   
 

Construction & Engineering – 1.4%

           
  122,850     

Ferrovial SA

              2,377,060   
  83,427     

Promotora y Operadora de Infraestructura SAB de CV (Pinfra), (2)

              996,920   
  90,628     

Vinci S.A

                    5,949,605   
 

Total Construction & Engineering

                    9,323,585   
 

Electric Utilities – 10.9%

           
  314,066     

Alupar Investimento SA, (2)

              2,163,218   
  33,280     

American Electric Power Company, Inc.

              1,555,507   
  116,117     

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP

              4,554,109   
  243,568     

Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited

              1,537,554   
  220,064     

Duke Energy Corporation

              15,186,617   
  1,312     

Edison International

              60,746   
  184,894     

EDP Energias do Brasil SA

              889,497   
  15,169     

Elia System Operator SA NV

              703,254   
  486,209     

Energa SA, (2)

              2,563,781   
  148,616     

Enersis SA

              2,227,754   
  102,029     

Fortis Incorporated

              2,924,719   
  94,412     

Hafslund ASA, Class B Shares

              723,815   
  1,147,832     

Infratil Limited

              2,142,834   
  38,642     

ITC Holdings Corporation

              3,702,676   
  90,522     

NextEra Energy Inc.

              7,750,494   

 

  30       Nuveen Investments


Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

Electric Utilities (continued)

           
  97,837     

OGE Energy Corp.

            $ 3,316,674   
  174,516     

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation

              9,235,387   
  104,510     

Power Assets Holdings Limited

              830,899   
  1,161,525     

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited

              1,875,941   
  80,065     

Scottish and Southern Energy PLC

              1,816,405   
  1,610,108     

Spark Infrastructure Group

              2,336,198   
  564,775     

Terna-Rete Elettrica Nazionale SpA

                    2,821,933   
 

Total Electric Utilities

                    70,920,012   
 

Gas Utilities – 6.4%

           
  16,181     

ENN Energy Holdings Limited

              119,673   
  43,357     

GAIL India Limited, GDR

              1,441,187   
  1,932,746     

Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited

              4,431,635   
  828,534     

Infraestructura Energetica Nova SAB de CV

              3,310,582   
  59,842     

Laclede Group Inc.

              2,725,205   
  100,858     

ONEOK, Inc.

              6,271,350   
  460,636     

Petronas Gas Berhad

              3,414,514   
  37,115     

Piedmont Natural Gas Company

              1,230,733   
  90,968     

Rubis

              5,761,056   
  888,262     

Snam Rete Gas S.p.A

              4,968,597   
  13,125     

South Jersey Industries Inc.

              734,475   
  858,083     

Tokyo Gas Company Limited

              4,220,748   
  2,550,041     

Towngas China Company Limited

                    2,956,407   
 

Total Gas Utilities

                    41,586,162   
 

Independent Power Producers & Energy Traders – 0.8%

           
  112,777     

CPFL Energias Renovaveis SA, (2)

              640,548   
  71,952     

EDP Renovaveis SA

              382,180   
  78,398     

Endesa SA Chile

              3,494,983   
  42,234     

TransAlta Renewables Inc.

                    436,951   
 

Total Independent Power Producers & Energy Traders

                    4,954,662   
 

Industrial Conglomerates – 0.3%

           
  132,295     

Beijing Enterprises Holdings

              1,311,980   
  207,186     

SembCorp Industries Limited

                    901,344   
 

Total Industrial Conglomerates

                    2,213,324   
 

Multi-Utilities – 13.9%

           
  2,924     

Alliant Energy Corporation

              150,878   
  72,524     

Canadian Utilities Limited, Class A Shares

              2,435,332   
  463,548     

CenterPoint Energy, Inc.

              10,745,043   
  499,141     

Centrica PLC

              2,873,937   
  252,574     

CMS Energy Corporation

              6,761,406   

 

Nuveen Investments     31   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund (continued)

 

Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

Multi-Utilities (continued)

           
  222,022     

Dominion Resources, Inc.

            $ 14,362,603   
  31,240     

DTE Energy Company

              2,074,024   
  378,867     

Duet Group

              676,578   
  158,438     

GDF Suez

              3,726,094   
  993,077     

Hera SpA

              2,254,199   
  285,856     

National Grid PLC, Sponsored ADR

              18,672,114   
  201,428     

NiSource Inc.

              6,622,953   
  63,097     

PG&E Corporation

              2,541,547   
  70,731     

Redes Energeticas Nacionais SA

              217,769   
  126,871     

Sempra Energy

              11,387,941   
  203,308     

Suez Environnement Company

              3,642,986   
  273,832     

Vector Limited

              578,764   
  30,373     

Wisconsin Energy Corporation

                    1,255,620   
 

Total Multi-Utilities

                    90,979,788   
 

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 20.5%

           
  13,905     

Access Midstream Partners LP

              786,745   
  21,739     

AltaGas Limited

              834,360   
  576,141     

Enbridge Inc.

              25,165,839   
  327,267     

Gibson Energy Incorporated

              8,441,625   
  43,842     

Keyera Corporation

              2,638,568   
  274,863     

Kinder Morgan, Inc.

              9,895,068   
  175,117     

Koninklijke Vopak NV

              10,243,465   
  22,140     

Magellan Midstream Partners LP

              1,400,798   
  78,120     

MarkWest Energy Partners LP

              5,166,076   
  100,804     

Oiltanking Partners LP

              6,256,904   
  64,954     

Plains All American Pipeline LP

              3,362,669   
  19,498     

Rose Rock Midstream Limited Partnership

              754,573   
  60,388     

SemGroup Corporation, A Shares

              3,939,109   
  367,081     

Sinopec Kantons Holdings Limited

              408,062   
  532,364     

Spectra Energy Corporation

              18,962,806   
  7,941     

Targa Resources Corporation

              700,158   
  284,380     

TransCanada Corporation

              12,984,791   
  95,854     

Western Gas Partners, LP

              5,913,233   
  409,281     

Williams Companies, Inc.

                    15,785,968   
 

Total Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

                    133,640,817   
 

Road & Rail – 4.9%

           
  614,372     

Asciano Limited

              3,159,768   
  1,203,101     

Aurizon Holdings Limited

              5,242,317   
  2,795,075     

ComfortDelGro Corporation

              4,451,920   

 

  32       Nuveen Investments


Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

Road & Rail (continued)

           
  103,802     

Genesee & Wyoming Inc., (2)

            $ 9,970,182   
  1,035,348     

MTR Corporation

              3,918,789   
  28,989     

Union Pacific Corporation

                    4,870,152   
 

Total Road & Rail

                    31,613,128   
 

Specialty Retail – 0.1%

           
  59,910     

World Duty Free SpA, (2)

                    753,305   
 

Transportation Infrastructure – 25.0%

           
  65,049     

Abertis Infraestructuras S.A

              1,445,242   
  70,650     

Aeroports de Paris

              8,018,469   
  820,670     

Atlantia SpA

              18,413,995   
  3,230,146     

Auckland International Airport Limited

              9,377,372   
  219,694     

CCR SA

              1,654,747   
  2,366,786     

China Merchants Holdings International Company Limited

              8,637,794   
  5,632,074     

Cosco Pacific Limited

              7,728,005   
  19,233     

Flughafen Zuerich AG

              11,243,775   
  120,354     

Fraport AG

              9,005,440   
  859,868     

Groupe Eurotunnel SA

              9,037,545   
  53,858     

Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte, SA

              1,438,009   
  51,472     

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste SA de CV

              6,414,955   
  10,342,074     

Hutchison Port Holdings Trust

              6,980,900   
  7,056,758     

International Container Terminal Services, Incorporated

              16,217,863   
  52,603     

Japan Airport Terminal Company

              1,187,826   
  2,875,370     

Jasa Marga Persero Tbk PT

              1,116,362   
  307,670     

Kamigumi Company Limited

              2,816,389   
  139,583     

Macquarie Atlas Roads Group

              342,741   
  1,268,165     

OHL MÉXICO, S.A.B. DE C.V, (2)

              3,247,023   
  445,086     

Port of Tauranga Limited

              5,014,744   
  1,182,273     

Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited

              3,026,064   
  188,390     

Societa Iniziative Autostradali e Servizi SpA

              1,869,905   
  1,984,796     

Sydney Airport

              6,734,430   
  2,841,704     

Transurban Group

              17,355,467   
  811,681     

Westports Holdings BHD, (2)

              626,943   
  6,002     

Westshore Terminals Investment Corporation

              195,556   
  322,003     

Wilson Sons Limited

                    4,220,126   
 

Total Transportation Infrastructure

                    163,367,687   
 

Water Utilities – 2.6%

           
  2,717,910     

Aguas Andinas SA. Class A, (5)

              1,755,456   
  120,985     

American Water Works Company

              5,112,826   
  124,117     

Aqua America Inc.

              2,927,921   

 

Nuveen Investments     33   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund (continued)

 

Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

Water Utilities (continued)

           
  61,344     

Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo, ADR

            $ 695,641   
  41,557     

Companhia de Saneamento de Minas Gervais Copasa MG

              655,259   
  76,799     

Connecticut Water Service, Inc.

              2,727,133   
  904,850     

Guangdong Investment Limited

              884,511   
  1,210,059     

Hyflux Limited

              1,121,890   
  1,686,174     

Manila Water Company

              835,821   
  35,738     

Pennon Group PLC

                    389,704   
 

Total Water Utilities

                    17,106,162   
 

Wireless Telecommunication Services – 1.6%

           
  96,952     

Crown Castle International Corporation

              7,119,185   
  78,247     

Sarana Menara Nusantara Tbk PT, (2)

              17,681   
  38,548    

SBA Communications Corporation, (2)

                    3,463,152   
 

Total Wireless Telecommunication Services

                    10,600,018   
 

Total Common Stocks (cost $557,235,356)

                    614,176,539   
Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST COMMON STOCKS – 2.9%

           
 

Specialized – 2.9%

           
  132,187     

American Tower REIT Inc.

            $ 10,551,166   
  134,199     

Corrections Corporation of America

              4,303,762   
  34,795     

Geo Group Inc.

              1,121,095   
  1,584,559     

Parkway Life Real Estate

                    2,950,762   
 

Total Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks (cost $14,892,813)

                    18,926,785   
Shares     Description (1), (3)                      Value  
 

INVESTMENT COMPANIES – 0.3%

           
 

Gas Utilities – 0.3%

           
  5,110,184     

Cityspring Infrastructure Trust

                  $ 1,903,234   
 

Total Investment Companies (cost $1,836,510)

                    1,903,234   
 

Total Long-Term Investments (cost $573,964,679)

                    635,006,558   
Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS – 1.7%

           
 

Money Market Funds – 1.7%

           
  10,928,677    

State Street Institutional Liquid Reserve Fund, 0.060%, (4)

                  $ 10,928,677   

 

 

               
 

Total Short-Term Investments (cost $10,928,677)

                    10,928,677   
 

Total Investments (cost $584,893,356) – 99.0%

                    645,935,235   
 

Borrowings – (1.3)%

                    (8,198,598
 

Other Assets Less Liabilities – 2.3%

                    14,814,539   
 

Net Assets – 100%

                  $ 652,551,176   

 

  34       Nuveen Investments


 

 

 

 

 

   For Fund portfolio compliance purposes, the Fund’s industry classifications refer to any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or ratings group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. This definition may not apply for purposes of this report which may combine industry sub-classifications into sectors for reporting ease.

 

(1) All percentages shown in the Portfolio of Investments are based on net assets.

 

(2) Non-income producing; issuer has not declared a dividend within the past twelve months.

 

(3) A copy of the most recent financial statements for the investment companies in which the Fund invests can be obtained directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission on its website at http://www.sec.gov.

 

(4) The rate shown is the annualized seven-day effective yield as of the end of the reporting period.

 

(5) For fair value measurement disclosure purposes, Common Stock classified as Level 2. See Notes to Financial Statements, Note 2 – Investment Valuation and Fair Value Measurements for more information.

 

ADR American Depositary Receipt.

 

GDR Global Depositary Receipt.

 

REIT Real Estate Investment Trust.

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

Nuveen Investments     35   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

 

Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS – 95.4%

           
 

COMMON STOCKS – 22.6%

           
 

Air Freight & Logistics – 1.1%

           
  31,763     

BPost SA

            $ 620,928   
  9,617     

Oesterreichische Post AG

              460,145   
  382,135     

Singapore Post Limited

                    401,227   
 

Total Air Freight & Logistics

                    1,482,300   
 

Commercial Services & Supplies – 0.6%

           
  861,432     

K-Green Trust

                    713,338   
 

Electric Utilities – 3.5%

           
  51,977     

Alupar Investimento SA, (2)

              358,006   
  8,209     

Duke Energy Corporation

              566,503   
  42,492     

EDP Energias do Brasil S.A

              204,423   
  92,387     

Energa SA, (2)

              487,157   
  13,940     

Hafslund ASA, Class B Shares

              106,872   
  1,279     

NRG Yield Inc., Class A Shares

              51,173   
  47,709     

Pepco Holdings, Inc.

              912,673   
  21,406     

PPL Corporation

              644,107   
  34,386     

Scottish and Southern Energy PLC

              780,102   
  220,758     

Spark Infrastructure Group

              320,311   
  24,522     

Terna-Rete Elettrica Nazionale SpA

              122,526   
  5,156     

Transmissora Alianca de Energia Eletrica SA

                    39,775   
 

Total Electric Utilities

                    4,593,628   
 

Gas Utilities – 0.0%

           
  6,634     

Snam Rete Gas S.p.A

                    37,108   
 

Independent Power Producers & Energy Traders – 1.1%

           
  691     

Pattern Energy Group Inc.

              20,944   
  140,450     

TransAlta Renewables Inc.

                    1,453,091   
 

Total Independent Power Producers & Energy Traders

                    1,474,035   
 

Multi-Utilities – 5.8%

           
  16,520     

Centrica PLC

              95,118   
  901,359     

Duet Group

              1,609,642   
  54,875     

GDF Suez

              1,290,533   
  2,529     

Hera SpA

              5,741   
  59,665     

National Grid PLC, Sponsored ADR

              3,897,317   
  366,027     

Vector Limited

                    773,625   
 

Total Multi-Utilities

                    7,671,976   

 

  36       Nuveen Investments


Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 2.3%

           
  2,514     

Access Midstream Partners LP

            $ 142,242   
  374     

BlueKnight Energy Partners LP

              3,183   
  18,827     

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP

              480,465   
  4,626     

DCP Midstream Partners LP

              232,919   
  9,922     

MarkWest Energy Partners LP

              656,142   
  20,040     

Plains All American Pipeline LP

              1,037,471   
  846     

QEP Midstream Partners LP

              19,644   
  13,006     

Rose Rock Midstream Limited Partnership

                    503,332   
 

Total Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

                    3,075,398   
 

Real Estate Management & Development – 1.0%

           
  22,818     

Brookfield Property Partners

              454,991   
  1,762,811     

Langham Hospitality Investments Limited, (2)

                    845,680   
 

Total Real Estate Management & Development

                    1,300,671   
 

Transportation Infrastructure – 7.0%

           
  6,271     

Abertis Infraestructuras S.A

              139,327   
  145,733     

Atlantia SpA

              3,269,920   
  3,567,167     

Hutchison Port Holdings Trust

              2,407,837   
  853     

Kobenhavns Lufthavne

              438,081   
  55     

Societa Iniziative Autostradali e Servizi SpA

              546   
  225,654     

Sydney Airport

              765,646   
  365,487     

Transurban Group

                    2,232,180   
 

Total Transportation Infrastructure

                    9,253,537   
 

Water Utilities – 0.2%

           
  176,010     

Inversiones Aguas Metropolitanas SA

                    298,877   
 

Total Common Stocks (cost $29,702,879)

                    29,900,868   
Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST COMMON STOCKS – 19.0%

           
 

Diversified – 2.5%

           
  5,621     

Armada Hoffler Properties Inc.

            $ 52,163   
  31,354     

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust

              438,617   
  63,345     

Liberty Property Trust

              2,145,494   
  18,226     

Select Income REIT

              487,363   
  3,120     

WP Carey Inc.

                    191,412   
 

Total Diversified

                    3,315,049   
 

Industrial – 0.7%

           
  287,583     

Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust

              501,353   
  329,717     

Mapletree Logistics Trust

              275,646   
  15,322     

Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation

              139,277   

 

Nuveen Investments     37   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund (continued)

 

Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

Industrial (continued)

           
  1,879     

STAG Industrial Inc.

                  $ 38,313   
 

Total Industrial

                    954,589   
 

Mortgage – 4.1%

           
  44,719     

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc.

              726,684   
  60,791     

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc, Class A

              1,649,260   
  75,635     

Colony Financial Inc.

              1,534,634   
  93,753     

Newcastle Investment Corporation

              538,142   
  36,627     

Starwood Property Trust Inc.

                    1,014,568   
 

Total Mortgage

                    5,463,288   
 

Office – 0.9%

           
  4,516     

Digital Realty Trust Inc.

              221,826   
  34,142     

Franklin Street Properties Corporation

              407,997   
  25,040     

Mack-Cali Realty Corporation

                    537,859   
 

Total Office

                    1,167,682   
 

Residential – 0.6%

           
  81,713     

Campus Crest Communities Inc.

              768,919   
  13,269     

Trade Street Residential Inc.

                    83,993   
 

Total Residential

                    852,912   
 

Retail – 3.4%

           
  28,546     

AmREIT Inc., Class B Shares

              479,573   
  146,032     

CapitaMall Trust

              220,445   
  3,468     

CBL & Associates Properties Inc.

              62,285   
  21,988     

Kite Realty Group Trust

              555,197   
  35,419     

National Retail Properties, Inc.

              1,074,258   
  13,027     

Penn Real Estate Investment Trust

              309,131   
  42,133     

Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc.

              777,354   
  397,436     

Westfield Retail Trust

                    1,053,962   
 

Total Retail

                    4,532,205   
 

Specialized – 6.8%

           
  29,100     

Aviv REIT Inc.

              689,670   
  53,607     

Corrections Corporation of America

              1,719,176   
  4,901     

Entertainment Properties Trust

              240,933   
  10,055     

Geo Group Inc.

              323,972   
  18,972     

Health Care REIT, Inc.

              1,016,330   
  14,453     

Healthcare Realty Trust, Inc.

              307,993   
  79,089     

Healthcare Trust of America Inc., Class A

              778,236   
  4,913     

LTC Properties Inc.

              173,871   
  7,731     

National Health Investors Inc.

              433,709   
  275,838     

Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust

              513,665   

 

  38       Nuveen Investments


Shares     Description (1)                          Value  
 

Specialized (continued)

           
  34,140     

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

            $ 854,866   
  16,450     

Physicians Realty Trust

              209,573   
  12,972     

Public Storage, Inc.

              280,195   
  94,311     

Summit Hotel Properties Inc.

              848,799   
  12,717     

Summit Hotel Properties Inc.

              343,232   
  5,411     

Universal Health Realty Income Trust

                            216,766   
 

Total Specialized

                            8,950,986   
 

Total Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks (cost $25,415,876)

                            25,236,711   
Shares     Description (1)    Coupon            Ratings (3)      Value  
 

CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED SECURITIES – 3.0%

           
 

Electric Utilities – 0.9%

           
  16,478     

NextEra Energy Inc.

     5.799         N/R       $ 826,701   
  7,826     

PPL Corporation

     8.750           N/R         413,839   
 

Total Electric Utilities

                            1,240,540   
 

Real Estate Investment Trust – 1.4%

           
  30,137     

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc.

     7.000         N/R         756,439   
  36,009     

American Homes 4 Rent, (2), (4)

     5.000         N/R         876,819   
  2,543     

Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, (4)

     7.250           N/R         148,079   
 

Total Real Estate Investment Trust

                            1,781,337   
 

Wireless Telecommunication Services – 0.7%

           
  9,075     

Crown Castle International Corporation

     4.500           N/R         907,863   
 

Total Convertible Preferred Securities (cost $3,933,981)

                            3,929,740   
Shares     Description (1)    Coupon            Ratings (3)      Value  
 

$25 PAR (OR SIMILAR) RETAIL STRUCTURES – 24.0%

           
 

Electric Utilities – 3.9%

           
  9,835     

Alabama Power Company

     6.450         A–       $ 255,710   
  303,400     

APT Pipelines Limited, (2), (5)

     7.057         N/R         286,617   
  13,527     

Duke Energy Capital Trust II

     5.125         Baa2         279,333   
  52,583     

Integrys Energy Group Inc.

     6.000         BBB         1,259,363   
  13,346     

NextEra Energy Inc.

     5.700         BBB         278,931   
  12,350     

NextEra Energy Inc.

     5.125         BBB         228,475   
  43,607     

NextEra Energy Inc.

     5.000         BBB         796,264   
  55,023     

PPL Capital Funding, Inc.

     5.900         BB+         1,142,828   
  7,569     

SCE Trust I

     5.625         BBB+         152,137   
  23,661     

SCE Trust II

     5.100           BBB+         436,309   
 

Total Electric Utilities

                            5,115,967   

 

Nuveen Investments     39   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund (continued)

 

Shares     Description (1)    Coupon            Ratings (3)      Value  
 

Energy Equipment & Services – 0.0%

           
  636     

NextEra Energy Inc.

     5.625           BBB       $ 12,822   
 

Multi-Utilities – 0.4%

           
  9,840     

DTE Energy Company

     6.500         Baa2         237,931   
  14,745     

DTE Energy Company

     5.250           Baa2         284,136   
 

Total Multi-Utilities

                            522,067   
 

Real Estate Investment Trust – 19.7%

           
  25,932     

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., Series B

     6.450         Baa3         549,758   
  34,846     

American Homes 4 Rent

     5.000         N/R         870,802   
  8,254     

Apartment Investment & Management Company, (5)

     7.000         BB         206,350   
  12,616     

Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance

     8.625         N/R         313,508   
  15,323     

Campus Crest Communities

     8.000         Ba1         378,478   
  45,541     

Cedar Shopping Centers Inc., Series A

     7.250         N/R         1,047,443   
  15,913     

Colony Financial Inc.

     8.500         N/R         397,825   
  1,338     

Cousins Property Inc.

     7.500         N/R         33,651   
  72,370     

DDR Corporation

     6.500         Baa3         1,577,666   
  51,530     

DDR Corporation

     6.250         Baa3         1,075,946   
  12,286     

Digital Realty Trust Inc.

     5.875         Baa3         222,991   
  53,312     

Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc., (5)

     6.750         N/R         1,218,179   
  4,025     

Essex Property Trust

     7.125         BBB–         103,161   
  71,594     

General Growth Properties

     6.375         B         1,442,619   
  50,186     

Glimcher Realty Trust

     7.500         B1         1,158,795   
  45,426     

Glimcher Realty Trust

     6.875         B1         981,202   
  5,851     

Hersha Hospitality Trust, (5)

     8.000         N/R         146,275   
  39,779     

Hersha Hospitality Trust

     6.875         N/R         924,862   
  4,762     

Investors Real Estate Trust

     7.950         N/R         122,812   
  32,455     

Kilroy Realty Corporation

     6.875         Ba1         710,440   
  23,459     

Kimco Realty Corporation

     5.625         Baa2         460,969   
  23,435     

Kimco Realty Corporation

     5.500         Baa2         455,811   
  17,958     

LaSalle Hotel Properties

     7.250         N/R         425,066   
  3,851     

LaSalle Hotel Properties

     6.375         N/R         77,713   
  13,582     

Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp, (5)

     7.875         N/R         336,290   
  149     

National Retail Properties Inc.

     6.625         Baa2         3,300   
  37,122     

National Retail Properties Inc.

     5.700         Baa2         705,318   
  2,236     

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

     7.875         N/R         55,833   
  49,331     

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

     6.500         N/R         1,004,379   
  7,036     

Post Properties, Inc., Series A, (5)

     8.500         Baa3         409,847   
  13,783     

PS Business Parks, Inc.

     5.750         Baa2         266,701   
  862     

Regency Centers Corporation

     6.625         Baa3         18,705   
  2,226     

Regency Centers Corporation

     6.000         Baa3         43,964   

 

  40       Nuveen Investments


Shares     Description (1)    Coupon              Ratings (3)      Value  
 

Real Estate Investment Trust (continued)

           
  58,054     

Retail Properties of America

     7.000         N/R       $ 1,224,939   
  45,673     

Saul Centers, Inc.

     6.875         N/R         1,013,027   
  40,087     

SL Green Realty Corporation

     6.500         Ba2         854,254   
  27,398     

STAG Industrial Inc.

     6.625         BB         570,700   
  50,666     

Summit Hotel Properties Inc.

     7.875         N/R         1,207,877   
  86,845     

Summit Hotel Properties Inc.

     7.125         N/R         1,879,326   
  17,622     

Taubman Centers Incorporated, Series J

     6.500         N/R         366,890   
  39,928     

Taubman Centers Incorporated, Series K

     6.250         N/R         792,571   
  427     

Terreno Realty Corporation

     7.750         N/R         10,462   
  18,639     

Urstadt Biddle Properties

     7.125               N/R         429,255   
 

Total Real Estate Investment Trust

                                26,095,960   
 

Total $25 Par (or similar) Retail Structures (cost $34,883,217)

                                31,746,816   
Principal
Amount (000)
    Description (1)    Coupon      Maturity      Ratings (3)      Value  
 

CONVERTIBLE BONDS – 2.3%

           
 

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 0.9%

           
$ 1,310     

DCP Midstream LLC

     5.850      5/21/43         Baa3       $ 1,218,300   
 

Real Estate Investment Trust – 1.4%

           
  1,700     

Blackstone Mortgage Trust

     5.250      12/01/18         N/R         1,789,250   
$ 3,010     

Total Convertible Bonds (cost $3,005,600)

                                3,007,550   
Principal
Amount (000)
    Description (1)    Coupon      Maturity      Ratings (3)      Value  
 

CORPORATE BONDS – 19.0%

           
 

Building Products – 0.4%

           
$ 545     

Associated Asphalt Partners Limited Liability Corporation, 144A

     8.500      2/15/18         B       $ 561,350   
 

Commercial Services & Supplies – 1.0%

           
  530     

ADS Waste Holdings Inc.

     8.250      10/01/20         CCC+         575,050   
  750     

Casella Waste Systems Inc.

     7.750      2/15/19         Caa1         768,750   
  1,280     

Total Commercial Services & Supplies

                                1,343,800   
 

Diversified Financial Services – 0.1%

           
  200     

Jefferies LoanCore LLC Finance Corporation, 144A

     6.875      6/01/20         B         198,000   
  (6)   

SinOceanic II ASA, 144A

     10.000      2/17/15         N/R         1   
  200     

Total Diversified Financial Services

                                198,001   
 

Diversified Telecommunication Services – 1.0%

           
  500     

CyrusOne LP Finance

     6.375      11/15/22         B+         517,500   
  700     

IntelSat Limited

     8.125      6/01/23         B–         750,750   
  1,200     

Total Diversified Telecommunication Services

                                1,268,250   

 

Nuveen Investments     41   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund (continued)

 

Principal
Amount (000)
    Description (1)    Coupon      Maturity      Ratings (3)      Value  
 

Electric Utilities – 0.9%

           
$ 600     

Intergen NV, 144A

     7.000      6/30/23         B+       $ 621,000   
  650     

Star Energy Geothermal Wayang Windu Limited, 144A

     6.125      3/27/20         B+         602,875   
  1,250     

Total Electric Utilities

                                1,223,875   
 

Energy Equipment & Services – 1.4%

           
  1,250     

Origin Energy Finance Limited/

     7.875      6/16/71         BB+         1,861,501   
 

Gas Utilities – 1.0%

           
  500     

AmeriGas Finance LLC

     7.000      5/20/22         Ba2         542,500   
  800     

LBC Tank Terminals Holdings Netherlands BV, 144A

     6.875      5/15/23         B         827,000   
  1,300     

Total Gas Utilities

                                1,369,500   
 

Health Care Equipment & Supplies – 0.4%

           
  500     

Community Health Systems, Inc.

     7.125      7/15/20         B         518,750   
 

Health Care Providers & Services – 3.2%

           
  600     

HealthSouth Corporation

     5.750      11/01/24         BB–         592,500   
  845     

IASIS Healthcare Capital Corporation

     8.375      5/15/19         CCC+         895,700   
  750     

Lifepoint Hospitals Inc., 144A

     5.500      12/01/21         Ba1         752,813   
  500     

National Mentor Holdings, 144A

     12.500      2/15/18         CCC+         535,000   
  750     

Select Medical Corporation

     6.375      6/01/21         B–         733,125   
  725     

Tenet Healthcare Corporation

     6.750      2/01/20         B3         743,125   
  4,170     

Total Health Care Providers & Services

                                4,252,263   
 

Independent Power Producers & Energy Traders – 0.5%

           
  600     

Mirant Americas Generation LLC

     8.500      10/01/21         BB–         631,500   
 

Industrial Conglomerates – 0.3%

           
  390     

OAS Financial Limited, 144A

     8.875      7/25/63         BB–         345,150   
 

Internet Software & Services – 0.5%

           
  650     

Equinix Inc.

     5.375      4/01/23         BB         635,375   
 

Metals & Mining – 0.3%

           
  550     

WPE International Cooperatief U.A, 144A

     10.375      9/30/20         B+         356,125   
 

Multi-Utilities – 0.4%

           
  300     

RWE AG

     7.000      3/20/49         BBB–         525,601   
 

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 4.9%

           
  750     

Atlas Pipeline LP Finance, 144A

     5.875      8/01/23         B+         714,374   
  650     

Calumet Specialty Products, 144A

     7.625      1/15/22         B+         656,500   
  750     

Crestwood Midstream Partners LP, 144A

     6.125      3/01/22         BB         768,750   
  650     

Gibson Energy, 144A

     6.750      7/15/21         BB         687,375   
  560     

Martin Mid-Stream Partners LP Finance

     7.250      2/15/21         B–         571,200   
  750     

Niska Gas Storage US LLC

     8.875      3/15/18         B         780,000   
  600     

NuStar Logistics LP

     6.750      2/01/21         BB+         619,150   

 

  42       Nuveen Investments


Principal
Amount (000)
    Description (1)    Coupon      Maturity     Ratings (3)      Value  
 

Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels (continued)

          
$ 540     

PBF Holding Company LLC

     8.250      2/15/20        BB+       $ 585,900   
  550     

Summit Midstream Holdings LLC Finance, 144A

     7.500      7/01/21        B         574,750   
  500     

Western Refining Inc.

     6.250      4/01/21        B+         503,750   
  6,300     

Total Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

                               6,461,749   
 

Real Estate Investment Trust – 0.9%

          
  700     

Geo Group Inc., 144A

     5.875      1/15/22        B+         694,750   
  500     

MPT Operating Partnership Finance

     6.375      2/15/22        Ba1         517,500   
  1,200     

Total Real Estate Investment Trust

                               1,212,250   
 

Road & Rail – 0.4%

          
  500     

Watco Companies LLC Finance, 144A

     6.375      4/01/23        B3         495,000   
 

Wireless Telecommunication Services – 1.4%

          
  750     

Crown Castle International Corporation

     5.250      1/15/23        BB–         735,000   
  350     

Goodman Networks Inc., 144A

     12.125      7/01/18        B3         369,250   
  750     

SBA Communications Corporation

     5.625      10/01/19        B         772,500   
  1,850     

Total Wireless Telecommunication Services

                               1,876,750   
$ 24,035     

Total Corporate Bonds (cost $24,984,814)

                               25,136,790   
Principal
Amount (000)
    Description (1)    Coupon      Maturity     Ratings (3)      Value  
 

$1,000 PAR (OR SIMILAR) INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES – 4.5%

          
 

Construction & Engineering – 1.1%

          
$ 1,563     

PHBS Limited

     6.625      N/A (7)      N/R       $ 1,527,833   
 

Diversified Financial Services – 1.1%

          
  1,390     

Royal Capital BV

     8.375      N/A (7)      N/R         1,439,210   
 

Electric Utilities – 2.0%

          
  985     

AES Gener SA, 144A

     8.375      12/18/73        Ba2         1,026,863   
  1,018     

Electricite de France, 144A

     5.250      N/A (7)      A3         1,012,401   
  440     

Tennet Holding BV

     6.655      N/A (7)      BBB         667,839   
  2,443     

Total Electric Utilities

                               2,707,103   
 

Transportation Infrastructure – 0.3%

          
  250     

Eurogate GmbH

     6.750      N/A (7)      N/R         349,084   
$ 5,646     

Total $1,000 Par (or similar) Institutional Structures (cost $5,829,288)

                               6,023,230   
Shares     Description (1)                           Value  
 

COMMON STOCK RIGHT – 0.0%

          
  13,269     

Trade Street Residential Inc., Stock Right, (2)

                             $ 3,981   
 

Total Common Stock Right (cost $20,387)

                               3,981   

 

Nuveen Investments     43   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund (continued)

 

Shares     Description (1), (8)                          Value  
 

INVESTMENT COMPANIES – 1.0%

           
 

Gas Utilities – 0.4%

           
  1,468,656     

Cityspring Infrastructure Trust

                          $ 546,985   
 

Real Estate Management & Development – 0.6%

           
  477,271     

Starwood European Real Estate Finance Limited

                            796,269   
 

Total Investment Companies (cost $1,283,059)

                            1,343,254   
 

Total Long-Term Investments (cost $129,059,101)

                            126,328,940   
Principal
Amount (000)
    Description (1)    Coupon      Maturity            Value  
 

SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS – 3.5%

           
$ 4,677     

Repurchase Agreement with State Street Bank, dated 12/31/13, repurchase price $4,677,177, collateralized by $5,015,00 U.S. Treasury Notes, 1.250%, due 2/29/20, value $4,771,883

     0.000      1/02/14            $ 4,677,177   

 

 

               
 

Total Short-Term Investments (cost $4,677,177)

                            4,677,177   
 

Total Investments (cost $133,736,278) – 98.9%

                            131,006,117   
 

Other Assets Less Liabilities – 1.1%

                            1,493,355   
 

Net Assets – 100%

                          $ 132,499,472   

 

 

  For Fund portfolio compliance purposes, the Fund’s industry classifications refer to any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or ratings group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. This definition may not apply for purposes of this report which may combine industry sub-classifications into sectors for reporting ease.

 

(1) All percentages shown in the Portfolio of Investments are based on net assets.

 

(2) Non-income producing; issuer has not declared a dividend within the past twelve months.

 

(3) Ratings (not covered by the report of independent registered public accounting firm): Using the highest of Standard & Poor’s Group (“Standard & Poor’s”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or Fitch, Inc. (“Fitch”) rating. Ratings below BBB by Standard & Poor’s, Baa by Moody’s or BBB by Fitch are considered to be below investment grade. Holdings designated N/R are not rated by any of these national rating agencies.

 

(4) For fair value measurement disclosure purposes, Convertible Preferred Securities classified as Level 2. See Notes to Financial Statements, Note 2 – Investment Valuation and Fair Value Measurements for more information.

 

(5) For fair value measurement disclosure purposes, $25 Par (or similar) Retail Structures classified as Level 2. See Notes to Financial Statements, Note 2 – Investment Valuation and Fair Value Measurements for more information.

 

(6) Principal Amount (000) rounds to less than $1,000.

 

(7) Perpetual security. Maturity date is not applicable.

 

(8) A copy of the most recent financial statements for the investment companies in which the Fund invests can be obtained directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission on its website at http://www.sec.gov.

 

N/A Not applicable.

 

144A Investment is exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These investments may only be resold in transactions exempt from registration, which are normally those transactions with qualified institutional buyers.

 

ADR American Depositary Receipt.

 

REIT Real Estate Investment Trust.

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

  44       Nuveen Investments


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

 

Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS – 103.2%

           
 

COMMON STOCKS – 1.7%

           
 

Capital Markets – 0.0%

           
  60,447     

HFF Inc., Class A Shares, (2)

                  $ 1,623,002   
 

Health Care Providers & Services – 0.2%

           
  399,973     

Capital Senior Living Corporation, (2)

                    9,595,352   
 

Real Estate Management & Development – 1.0%

           
  1,515,101     

Brookfield Properties Corporation

              29,165,694   
  265,923     

Forest City Enterprises, Inc., (2)

              5,079,129   
  8,685,189     

Langham Hospitality Investments Limited, (2)

                    4,166,580   
 

Total Real Estate Management & Development

                    38,411,403   
 

Wireless Telecommunication Services – 0.5%

           
  263,881    

Crown Castle International Corporation

                    19,376,782   
 

Total Common Stocks (cost $63,164,279)

                    69,006,539   
Shares     Description(1)                      Value  
 

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST COMMON STOCKS – 97.2%

           
 

Diversified – 8.4%

           
  174,679     

American Assets Trust Inc

            $ 5,490,161   
  1,497     

Armada Hoffler Properties Inc., (3)

              13,892   
  5,936,836     

Cousins Properties, Inc., (3)

              61,149,411   
  1,208,968     

Duke Realty Corporation

              18,182,879   
  517,020     

Empire State Realty Trust Inc., (3)

              7,910,406   
  1,650,731     

Liberty Property Trust

              55,910,259   
  576,613     

PS Business Parks Inc.

              44,064,764   
  114,492     

Select Income REIT

              3,061,516   
  1,540,855     

Vornado Realty Trust

                    136,812,515   
 

Total Diversified

                    332,595,803   
 

Industrial – 8.1%

           
  7,678,921     

DCT Industrial Trust Inc.

              54,750,707   
  509,319     

Mapletree Logistics Trust

              425,795   
  6,180,897     

Prologis Inc., (3)

              228,384,144   
  639,306     

Rexford Industrial Realty Inc.

              8,438,839   
  1,449,616     

Terreno Realty Corporation

                    25,658,203   
 

Total Industrial

                    317,657,688   

 

Nuveen Investments     45   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund (continued)

 

Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

Mortgage – 0.5%

           
  767,923     

Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc, Class A

            $ 20,833,751   
  34,331     

Newcastle Investment Corporation, (2), (4)

                    16,136   
 

Total Mortgage

                    20,849,887   
 

Office – 12.9%

           
  956,691     

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc.

              60,864,681   
  3,767,671     

BioMed Realty Trust Inc.

              68,270,199   
  1,664,523     

Boston Properties, Inc.

              167,068,173   
  698,181     

Corporate Office Properties

              16,539,908   
  676,099     

Digital Realty Trust Inc., (3)

              33,209,983   
  640,239     

Douglas Emmett Inc.

              14,911,166   
  329,118     

DuPont Fabros Technology Inc.

              8,132,506   
  164,415     

Highwoods Properties, Inc., (3)

              5,946,891   
  1,699,083     

Kilroy Realty Corporation

              85,259,985   
  150,316     

Mack-Cali Realty Corporation

              3,228,788   
  493,231     

SL Green Realty Corporation

                    45,564,680   
 

Total Office

                    508,996,960   
 

Residential – 12.7%

           
  1,711,239     

American Campus Communities Inc.

              55,119,008   
  68,014     

American Homes 4 Rents, Class A

              1,101,827   
  309,082     

Apartment Investment & Management Company, Class A

              8,008,315   
  765,484     

AvalonBay Communities, Inc.

              90,503,173   
  547,936     

BRE Properties, Inc.

              29,977,579   
  994,849     

Camden Property Trust

              56,587,011   
  2,540,654     

Equity Residential

              131,783,723   
  291,917     

Essex Property Trust Inc.

              41,893,009   
  9,404     

Home Properties New York, Inc.

              504,242   
  994,499     

Mid-America Apartment Communities

              60,405,869   
  583,701     

Post Properties, Inc.

                    26,400,796   
 

Total Residential

                    502,284,552   
 

Retail – 28.0%

           
  1,408,010     

Acadia Realty Trust

              34,960,888   
  4,013     

Alexander’s Inc., (3)

              1,324,290   
  1,176,541     

AmREIT Inc., Class B Shares

              19,765,889   
  227,974     

Brixmor Property Group Inc.

              4,634,711   
  711,945     

CBL & Associates Properties Inc.

              12,786,532   
  8,200,937     

Developers Diversified Realty Corporation

              126,048,402   
  536,396     

Equity One Inc.

              12,036,726   
  869,076     

Federal Realty Investment Trust

              88,132,997   
  2,437,865     

General Growth Properties Inc., (3)

              48,927,951   

 

  46       Nuveen Investments


Shares     Description (1)                      Value  
 

Retail (continued)

           
  1,040,172     

Glimcher Realty Trust

            $ 9,736,010   
  1,048,877     

Kimco Realty Corporation

              20,715,321   
  4,595,809     

Kite Realty Group Trust

              30,194,465   
  667,292     

Macerich Company, (3)

              39,296,826   
  1,127,686     

National Retail Properties, Inc., (3)

              34,202,716   
  506,174     

Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust

              7,967,179   
  179,962     

Regency Centers Corporation

              8,332,241   
  585,503     

Retail Properties of America Inc.

              7,447,598   
  13,112     

Saul Centers Inc., (3)

              625,836   
  2,928,167     

Simon Property Group, Inc.

              445,549,890   
  998,766     

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, (3)

              31,980,486   
  1,173,717     

Taubman Centers Inc.

              75,023,991   
  840,731     

Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc.

              15,511,487   
  869,547     

Weingarten Realty Trust, (3)

              23,842,979   
  829,674     

Westfield Group

                    7,474,808   
 

Total Retail

                    1,106,520,219   
 

Specialized – 26.6%

           
  80,470     

American Tower REIT Inc.

              6,423,115   
  359,015     

Corrections Corporation of America

              11,513,611   
  37,556     

CubeSmart

              598,643   
  1,553,106     

Extra Space Storage Inc.

              65,432,356   
  78,796     

Geo Group Inc.

              2,538,807   
  2,817,286     

Health Care Property Investors Inc.

              102,323,828   
  1,464,624     

Health Care REIT, Inc., (3)

              78,459,908   
  1,010,047     

Healthcare Realty Trust, Inc.

              21,524,102   
  785,221     

Healthcare Trust of America Inc., Class A, (3)

              7,726,575   
  2,852,128     

Host Hotels & Resorts Inc.

              55,445,367   
  263,841     

LTC Properties Inc.

              9,337,333   
  175,259     

National Health Investors Inc.

              9,832,030   
  6,337,950     

Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust

              11,802,514   
  998,630     

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

              30,717,859   
  145,694     

Physicians Realty Trust, (3)

              1,856,142   
  1,616,389     

Public Storage, Inc.

              243,298,872   
  3,723,499     

RLJ Lodging Trust

              90,555,496   
  152,936     

Senior Housing Properties Trust

              3,399,767   
  799,406     

Sovran Self Storage Inc.

              52,097,289   
  6,134,713     

Summit Hotel Properties Inc.

              55,212,417   
  4,071,660     

Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc.

              54,560,244   
  82,369     

Universal Health Realty Income Trust

              3,299,702   
  2,340,071    

Ventas Inc.

                    134,039,267   
 

Total Specialized

                    1,051,995,244   
 

Total Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks (cost $3,195,041,563)

                    3,840,900,353   

 

Nuveen Investments     47   


Portfolio of Investments December 31, 2013

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund (continued)

 

Shares     Description (1)    Coupon              Ratings (5)      Value  
 

$25 PAR (OR SIMILAR) RETAIL STRUCTURES – 0.1%

           
 

Specialized – 0.1%

           
  97,367    

Summit Hotel Properties Inc., (3)

     7.875               N/R       $ 2,321,229   
 

Total $25 Par (or similar) Retail Structures (cost $2,434,175)

                                2,321,229   
Principal
Amount (000)
    Description (1)    Coupon      Maturity      Ratings (5)      Value  
 

CONVERTIBLE BONDS – 0.2%

           
 

Mortgage – 0.2%

           
$ 8,415     

Blackstone Mortgage Trust, (3)

     5.250      12/01/18         N/R       $ 8,856,787   
$ 8,415    

Total Convertible Bonds (cost $8,415,000)

                                8,856,787   
Shares     Description (1), (6)                            Value  
 

INVESTMENT COMPANIES – 0.1%

           
 

Real Estate Management & Development – 0.1%

           
  2,167,851    

Starwood European Real Estate Finance Limited

                              $ 3,616,795   
 

Total Investment Companies (cost $3,496,534)

                                3,616,795   
Shares     Description (1)                            Value  
 

INVESTMENTS PURCHASED WITH COLLATERAL FROM SECURITIES LENDING – 3.9%

  

     
 

Money Market Funds – 3.9%

           
  155,691,006    

Mount Vernon Securities Lending Prime Portfolio, 0.175% (7), (8)

                              $ 155,691,006   

 

 

               
 

Total Investments Purchased with Collateral from Securities Lending (cost $155,691,006)

  

                       155,691,006   
 

Total Long-Term Investments (cost $3,428,242,557)

                                4,080,392,709   
 

Borrowings – (0.2)%

                                (9,544,762
 

Other Assets Less Liabilities – (3.0)%

                                (117,433,462
 

Net Assets – 100%

                              $ 3,953,414,485   

 

 

   For Fund portfolio compliance purposes, the Fund’s industry classifications refer to any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or ratings group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. This definition may not apply for purposes of this report which may combine industry sub-classifications into sectors for reporting ease.

 

(1) All percentages shown in the Portfolio of Investments are based on net assets.

 

(2) Non-income producing; issuer has not declared a dividend within the past twelve months.

 

(3) Investment, or a portion of investment, is out on loan for securities lending. The total value of securities out on loan as of the end the reporting period was $149,951,833.

 

(4) Investment valued at fair value using methods determined in good faith by, or at the discretion of, the Board of Directors. For fair value measurement disclosure purposes, investment classified as Level 3. See Notes to Financial Statements, Note 2 – Investment Valuation and Fair Value Measurements for more information.

 

(5) Ratings (not covered by the report of independent registered public accounting firm): Using the highest of Standard & Poor’s Group (“Standard & Poor’s”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or Fitch, Inc. (“Fitch”) rating. Ratings below BBB by Standard & Poor’s, Baa by Moody’s or BBB by Fitch are considered to be below investment grade. Holdings designated N/R are not rated by any of these national rating agencies.

 

(6) A copy of the most recent financial statements for the investment companies in which the Fund invests can be obtained directly from the Securities and Exchange Commission on its website at http://www.sec.gov.

 

(7) The rate shown is the annualized seven-day effective yield as of the end of the reporting period.

 

(8) The Fund may loan securities representing up to one third of the fair value of its total assets (which includes collateral for securities on loan) to broker dealers, banks, or other institutions. The Fund maintains collateral equal to at least 102% of the fair value of the securities loaned. The cash collateral received by the Fund is invested in this money market fund. See Notes to Financial Statements, Note 3 – Portfolio Securities and Investments in Derivatives, Securities Lending for more information.

 

REIT Real Estate Investment Trust.

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

  48       Nuveen Investments


Statement of

 

Assets and Liabilities December 31, 2013

 

      Global
Infrastructure
       Real
Asset Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 

Assets

            

Long-term investments, at value (cost $573,964,679, $129,059,101 and $3,272,551,551, respectively)

   $ 635,006,558         $ 126,328,940         $ 3,924,701,703   

Short-term investments, at value (cost approximates value)

     10,928,677           4,677,177             

Investment purchased with collateral from securities lending, at value (cost approximates value)

                         155,691,006   

Cash

     53,689                       

Cash denominated in foreign currencies (cost $379,804, $505,366 and $—, respectively)

     379,804           473,336             

Receivable for:

            

Dividends

     2,101,409           836,046           19,874,613   

Due from broker

                         32,882   

Interest

     531           615,985           44,179   

Investments sold

     19,970,327           1,770,269           63,261,968   

Reclaims

     201,532           32,486             

Shares sold

     3,254,742           1,147,567           10,720,201   

Other assets

     5,649           196           87,561   

Total assets

     671,902,918           135,882,002           4,174,414,113   

Liabilities

            

Borrowings

     8,198,598                     9,544,762   

Payable for:

            

Collateral from securities lending program

                         155,691,006   

Investments purchased

     9,712,840           1,928,392           30,623,524   

Shares redeemed

     642,791           1,297,068           20,303,847   

Accrued expenses:

            

Management fees

     400,462           65,162           2,873,485   

Directors fees

     8,188           706           104,879   

12b-1 distribution and service fees

     37,073           31,453           225,679   

Other

     351,790           59,749           1,632,446   

Total liabilities

     19,351,742           3,382,530           220,999,628   

Net assets

   $ 652,551,176         $ 132,499,472         $ 3,953,414,485   

Class A Shares

            

Net assets

   $ 107,136,689         $ 49,174,321         $ 634,977,599   

Shares outstanding

     10,350,349           2,234,220           32,632,571   

Net asset value per share

   $ 10.35         $ 22.01         $ 19.46   

Offering price per share (net asset value per share plus maximum sales charge of 5.75% of offering price)

   $ 10.98         $ 23.35         $ 20.65   

Class B Shares

            

Net assets

     N/A           N/A         $ 1,281,408   

Shares outstanding

     N/A           N/A           67,512   

Net asset value and offering price per share

     N/A           N/A         $ 18.98   

Class C Shares

            

Net assets

   $ 20,126,731         $ 24,647,940         $ 72,171,925   

Shares outstanding

     1,959,103           1,119,953           3,792,208   

Net asset value and offering price per share

   $ 10.27         $ 22.01         $ 19.03   

Class R3 Shares

            

Net assets

   $ 138,398           N/A         $ 59,238,404   

Shares outstanding

     13,203           N/A           3,003,528   

Net asset value and offering price per share

   $ 10.48           N/A         $ 19.72   

Class R6 Shares(1)

            

Net assets

     N/A           N/A         $ 79,795,535   

Shares outstanding

     N/A           N/A           4,047,081   

Net asset value and offering price per share

     N/A           N/A         $ 19.72   

Class I Shares

            

Net assets

   $ 525,149,358         $ 58,677,211         $ 3,105,949,614   

Shares outstanding

     50,720,161           2,665,565           157,695,379   

Net asset value and offering price per share

   $ 10.35         $ 22.01         $ 19.70   

Net assets consist of:

                              

Capital paid-in

   $ 585,648,399         $ 135,820,796         $ 3,388,178,537   

Undistributed (Over-distribution of) net investment income

     343,356           (201,839        (6,108,521

Accumulated net realized gain (loss)

     5,482,490           (366,907        (80,805,692

Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation)

     61,076,931           (2,752,578        652,150,161   

Net assets

   $ 652,551,176         $ 132,499,472         $ 3,953,414,485   

Authorized shares – per class

     2 billion           2 billion           2 billion   

Par value per share

   $ 0.0001         $ 0.0001         $ 0.0001   

N/A – Fund does not offer share class.

 

(1) – Class R6 Shares were established and commenced operations on April 30, 2013.

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

Nuveen Investments     49   


Statement of

 

Operations Year Ended December 31, 2013

 

      Global
Infrastructure
       Real
Asset Income
       Real
Estate Securities
 

Investment Income

            

Dividend and interest income (net of foreign tax withheld of $1,424,663, $193,352 and $207,466, respectively)

   $ 18,412,396         $ 6,293,477         $ 114,806,238   

Securities lending income, net

                         578,316   

Total investment income

     18,412,396           6,293,477           115,384,554   

Expenses

            

Management fees

     5,057,191           776,483           37,213,452   

12b-1 service fees – Class A

     195,567           94,780           1,873,101   

12b-1 distribution and service fees – Class B

     N/A           N/A           17,665   

12b-1 distribution and service fees – Class C

     174,880           157,919           789,341   

12b-1 distribution and service fees – Class R3

     658           N/A           360,812   

Shareholder servicing agent fees and expenses

     777,228           84,751           5,842,396   

Custodian fees and expenses

     361,943           101,758           742,951   

Directors fees and expenses

     14,478           2,821           114,497   

Professional fees

     109,757           63,244           278,904   

Shareholder reporting expenses

     143,540           16,074           705,394   

Federal and state registration fees

     110,203           58,333           251,295   

Other expenses

     7,678           4,665           51,961   

Total expenses before fee waiver/expense reimbursement

     6,953,123           1,360,828           48,241,769   

Fee waiver/expense reimbursement

     (1,142,631        (180,010          

Net expenses

     5,810,492           1,180,818           48,241,769   

Net investment income (loss)

     12,601,904           5,112,659           67,142,785   

Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss)

            

Net realized gain (loss) from investments and foreign currency

     29,308,323           2,318,291           234,979,977   

Change in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of investments and foreign currency

     32,174,470           (4,290,270        (260,427,676

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)

     61,482,793           (1,971,979        (25,447,699

Net increase (decrease) in net assets from operations

   $ 74,084,697         $ 3,140,680         $ 41,695,086   

N/A – Fund does not offer share class.

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

  50       Nuveen Investments


Statement of

 

Changes in Net Assets

 

     Global Infrastructure          Real Asset Income  
      Year Ended
12/31/13
     Year Ended
12/31/12
          Year Ended
12/31/13
     Year Ended
12/31/12
 

Operations

  

       

Net investment income (loss)

   $ 12,601,904       $ 6,168,810         $ 5,112,659       $ 1,441,849   

Net realized gain (loss) from investments and foreign currency

     29,308,323         12,137,973           2,318,291         957,183   

Change in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of investments and foreign currency

     32,174,470         19,382,522             (4,290,270      1,539,555   

Net increase (decrease) in net assets from operations

     74,084,697         37,689,305             3,140,680         3,938,587   

Distributions to Shareholders

             

From net investment income:

             

Class A

     (1,665,053      (1,408,692        (2,130,351      (332,722

Class B

     N/A         N/A           N/A         N/A   

Class C

     (166,661      (179,680        (769,597      (79,376

Class R3

     (1,812      (2,208        N/A         (602

Class R6

     N/A         N/A           N/A         N/A   

Class I

     (10,257,950      (6,163,756        (2,659,739      (1,105,444

From accumulated net realized gains:

             

Class A

     (3,830,961      (1,123,513        (1,085,838      (180,929

Class B

     N/A         N/A           N/A         N/A   

Class C

     (796,967      (232,692        (511,398      (64,049

Class R3

     (5,660      (1,488        N/A           

Class R6

     N/A         N/A           N/A         N/A   

Class I

     (21,492,340      (4,022,345        (1,146,313      (481,631

Return of capital:

             

Class A

                                 

Class B

                                 

Class C

                                 

Class R3

                                 

Class R6

                                 

Class I

                                   

Decrease in net assets from distributions to shareholders

     (38,217,404      (13,134,374          (8,303,236      (2,244,753

Fund Share Transactions

  

       

Proceeds from sale of shares

     386,701,678         181,543,700           140,616,830         30,998,443   

Proceeds from shares issued to shareholders due to reinvestment of distributions

     14,768,121         6,486,813             7,667,003         2,022,240   
     401,469,799         188,030,513           148,283,833         33,020,683   

Cost of shares redeemed

     (114,890,535      (62,020,696          (52,808,373      (2,841,436

Net increase (decrease) in net assets from Fund share transactions

     286,579,264         126,009,817             95,475,460         30,179,247   

Net increase (decrease) in net assets

     322,446,557         150,564,748           90,312,904         31,873,081   

Net assets at the beginning of period

     330,104,619         179,539,871             42,186,568         10,313,487   

Net assets at the end of period

   $ 652,551,176       $ 330,104,619           $ 132,499,472       $ 42,186,568   

Undistributed (Over-distribution of) net investment income at the end of period

   $ 343,356       $ (66,323        $ (201,839    $ (49,860

N/A – Fund does not offer share class. After the close of business on May 20, 2012, Real Asset Income liquidated all of its Class R3 Shares.

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

Nuveen Investments     51   


Statement of Changes in Net Assets (continued)

 

     Real Estate Securities  
      Year Ended
12/31/13
       Year Ended
12/31/12
 

Operations

  

Net investment income (loss)

   $ 67,142,785         $ 58,033,634   

Net realized gain (loss) from investments and foreign currency

     234,979,977           175,391,347   

Change in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of investments and foreign currency

     (260,427,676        357,456,067   

Net increase (decrease) in net assets from operations

     41,695,086           590,881,048   

Distributions to Shareholders

       

From net investment income:

       

Class A

     (9,392,460        (15,583,128

Class B

     (7,352        (28,672

Class C

     (431,481        (860,519

Class R3

     (734,437        (1,318,535

Class R6(1)

     (585,383          

Class I

     (55,808,963        (67,298,948

From accumulated net realized gains:

       

Class A

     (42,735,214        (23,186,752

Class B

     (101,601        (61,771

Class C

     (4,981,271        (2,153,298

Class R3

     (3,902,065        (2,195,554

Class R6(1)

     (4,703,048          

Class I

     (212,236,645        (97,222,367

Return of capital:

       

Class A

     (4,535,932          

Class B

     (10,937          

Class C

     (489,980          

Class R3

     (431,311          

Class R6(1)

     (258,478          

Class I

     (21,459,498          

Decrease in net assets from distributions to shareholders

     (362,806,056        (209,909,544

Fund Share Transactions

  

Proceeds from sale of shares

     1,627,912,622           1,466,271,905   

Proceeds from shares issued to shareholders due to reinvestment of distributions

     265,259,924           158,621,477   
     1,893,172,546           1,624,893,382   

Cost of shares redeemed

     (1,728,304,096        (1,023,309,961

Net increase (decrease) in net assets from Fund share transactions

     164,868,450           601,583,421   

Net increase (decrease) in net assets

     (156,242,520        982,554,925   

Net assets at the beginning of period

     4,109,657,005           3,127,102,080   

Net assets at the end of period

   $ 3,953,414,485         $ 4,109,657,005   

Undistributed (Over-distribution of) net investment income at the end of period

   $ (6,108,521      $ (6,964,257

(1) – Class R6 Shares were established and commenced operations on April 30, 2013.

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

  52       Nuveen Investments


 

 

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

 

 

 

 

 

Nuveen Investments     53   


Financial

 

Highlights

 

Selected data for a share outstanding throughout each period:

 

GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE     Investment Operations         Less Distributions           
Class (Commencement Date)                                                               
     Beginning
Net
Asset
Value
    Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)(a)
       Net
Realized/
Unrealized
Gain (Loss)
       Total         

From

Net
Investment
Income

      

From

Accumulated

Net Realized

Gains

       Total        Ending
Net
Asset
Value
 

Class A (12/07)

  

                              

Year Ended 12/31

                                

2013

  $ 9.56      $ .21         $ 1.17         $ 1.38        $ (.16      $ (.43      $ (.59      $ 10.35   

2012

    8.59        .21           1.12           1.33          (.20        (.16        (.36        9.56   

2011(e)

    8.87        .04           .03           .07          (.13        (.22        (.35        8.59   

Year Ended 10/31

                                

2011

    9.42        .20           (.11        .09          (.16        (.48        (.64        8.87   

2010

    7.80        .16           1.58           1.74          (.12                  (.12        9.42   

2009

    6.43        .16           1.29           1.45            (.08                  (.08        7.80   

Class C (11/08)

  

                              

Year Ended 12/31

                                

2013

    9.49        .13           1.17           1.30          (.09        (.43        (.52        10.27   

2012

    8.53        .13           1.11           1.24          (.12        (.16        (.28        9.49   

2011(e)

    8.75        .03           .03           .06          (.06        (.22        (.28        8.53   

Year Ended 10/31

                                

2011

    9.32        .14           (.12        .02          (.11        (.48        (.59        8.75   

2010

    7.75        .09           1.57           1.66          (.09                  (.09        9.32   

2009(d)

    6.48        .11           1.24           1.35            (.08                  (.08        7.75   

Class R3 (11/08)

  

                              

Year Ended 12/31

                                

2013

    9.68        .19           1.18           1.37          (.14        (.43        (.57        10.48   

2012

    8.68        .18           1.15           1.33          (.17        (.16        (.33        9.68   

2011(e)

    8.95        .04           .02           .06          (.11        (.22        (.33        8.68   

Year Ended 10/31

                                

2011

    9.40        .05           (.02        .03                    (.48        (.48        8.95   

2010

    7.78        .13           1.59           1.72          (.10                  (.10        9.40   

2009(d)

    6.48        .14           1.24           1.38            (.08                  (.08        7.78   

Class I (12/07)

  

                              

Year Ended 12/31

                                

2013

    9.57        .24           1.17           1.41          (.20        (.43        (.63        10.35   

2012

    8.62        .23           1.13           1.36          (.25        (.16        (.41        9.57   

2011(e)

    8.92        .04           .03           .07          (.15        (.22        (.37        8.62   

Year Ended 10/31

                                

2011

    9.46        .23           (.12        .11          (.17        (.48        (.65        8.92   

2010

    7.82        .18           1.59           1.77          (.13                  (.13        9.46   

2009

    6.43        .17           1.30           1.47            (.08                  (.08        7.82   

 

  54       Nuveen Investments


 

       Ratios/Supplemental Data  
                 Ratios to Average
Net Assets Before
Waiver/Reimbursement
        Ratios to Average
Net Assets After
Waiver/Reimbursement(c)
        
                                                   
Total
Return(b)
     Ending
Net
Assets
(000)
         Expenses      Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)
         Expenses      Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)
     Portfolio
Turnover
Rate(f)
 
                   
                   
  14.73    $ 107,137          1.43      1.87       1.23      2.07      166
  15.52         68,763          1.43         2.08          1.24         2.28         200   
  .81         51,681          1.64      2.38       1.23      2.79      42   
                   
  .97         54,697          1.62         1.86          1.25         2.24         273   
  22.56         57,594          1.88         1.30          1.25         1.93         314   
  22.76         19,901            2.47         1.12            1.25         2.34         299   
                   
                   
  13.90         20,127          2.18         1.11          1.98         1.31         166   
  14.58         14,291          2.19         1.25          1.99         1.45         200   
  .62         10,767          2.39      1.64       1.98      2.05      42   
                   
  .37         10,674          2.38         1.14          2.00         1.53         273   
  21.62         8,103          2.63         .51          2.00         1.14         314   
  21.00         3,034            3.22      .37         2.00      1.59      299   
                   
                   
  14.40         138          1.67         1.61          1.48         1.81         166   
  15.36         128          1.66         1.67          1.49         1.84         200   
  .68         7          1.89      1.94       1.48      2.38      42   
                   
  .36         15          2.05         (.03       1.50         .55         273   
  22.27         8          2.13         .91          1.50         1.54         314   
  21.48         6            2.72      .93         1.50      2.15      299   
                   
                   
  15.03         525,149          1.18         2.12          .98         2.33         166   
  15.78         246,922          1.18         2.32          .99         2.51         200   
  .85         117,085          1.39      2.65       .98      3.06      42   
                   
  1.28         112,697          1.38         2.12          1.00         2.51         273   
  22.92         87,980          1.63         1.50          1.00         2.13         314   
  23.14         36,595            2.22         1.35            1.00         2.57         299   

 

(a) Per share Net Investment Income (Loss) is calculated using the average daily shares method.  
(b) Total return is the combination of changes in net asset value without any sales charge, reinvested dividend income at net asset value and reinvested capital gains distributions at net asset value, if any. Total returns are not annualized.  
(c) After fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement from the Adviser, where applicable.  
(d) For the period November 3, 2008 (commencement of operations) through October 31, 2009.  
(e) For the two months ended December 31, 2011.  
(f) Portfolio Turnover Rate is calculated based on the lesser of long-term purchases or sales (as disclosed in Note 5 – Investment Transactions) divided by the average long-term market value during the period.  
* Annualized.  

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

Nuveen Investments     55   


Financial Highlights (continued)

 

Selected data for a share outstanding throughout each period:

 

REAL ASSET INCOME         Investment Operations         Less Distributions           
Class (Commencement Date)                                                                   
Year Ended
December 31,
  Beginning
Net
Asset
Value
    Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)(a)
       Net
Realized/
Unrealized
Gain (Loss)
       Total         

From

Net
Investment
Income

      

From
Accumulated

Net

Realized

Gains

       Total        Ending
Net
Asset
Value
 

Class A (9/11)

  

                              

2013

  $ 22.27      $ 1.14         $ .21         $ 1.35        $ (1.12      $ (.49      $ (1.61      $ 22.01   

2012

    20.38        1.22           2.21           3.43          (1.13        (.41        (1.54        22.27   

2011(d)

    20.00        .26           .35           .61            (.23                  (.23        20.38   

Class C (9/11)

  

                              

2013

    22.26        .99           .19           1.18          (.94        (.49        (1.43        22.01   

2012

    20.37        1.08           2.19           3.27          (.97        (.41        (1.38        22.26   

2011(d)

    20.00        .21           .35           .56            (.19                  (.19        20.37   

Class I (9/11)

  

                              

2013

    22.27        1.21           .19           1.40          (1.17        (.49        (1.66        22.01   

2012

    20.38        1.24           2.24           3.48          (1.18        (.41        (1.59        22.27   

2011(d)

    20.00        .27           .36           .63            (.25                  (.25        20.38   

 

  56       Nuveen Investments


       Ratios/Supplemental Data  
                 Ratios to Average
Net Assets Before
Waiver/Reimbursement
        Ratios to Average
Net Assets After
Waiver/Reimbursement(c)
 
                                                   
Total
Return(b)
    

Ending
Net
Assets
(000)

         Expenses      Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)
         Expenses      Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)
     Portfolio
Turnover
Rate(e)
 
                   
  6.13    $ 49,174          1.34      4.87       1.17      5.05      141
  17.22         10,365          1.68         5.06          1.17         5.57         177   
  3.06         52            2.12      3.34         1.18      4.28      65   
                   
  5.38         24,648          2.09         4.19          1.92         4.37         141   
  16.36         4,479          2.33         4.51          1.92         4.92         177   
  2.82         51            2.87      2.59         1.93      3.53      65   
                   
  6.40         58,677          1.10         5.11          .92         5.29         141   
  17.50         27,343          1.52         5.10          .92         5.70         177   
  3.13         10,159            1.87      3.60         .93      4.54      65   

 

 

(a) Per share Net Investment Income (Loss) is calculated using the average daily shares method.  
(b) Total return is the combination of changes in net asset value without any sales charge, reinvested dividend income at net asset value and reinvested capital gains distributions at net asset value, if any. Total returns are not annualized.  
(c) After fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement from the Adviser, where applicable.  
(d) For the period September 13, 2011 (commencement of operations) through December 31, 2011.  
(e) Portfolio Turnover Rate is calculated based on the lesser of long-term purchases or sales (as disclosed in Note 5 – Investment Transactions) divided by the average long-term market value during the period.  
* Annualized.  

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

Nuveen Investments     57   


Financial Highlights (continued)

 

Selected data for a share outstanding throughout each period:

 

REAL ESTATE SECURITIES     Investment Operations        

Less Distributions

          
Class (Commencement Date)                                                                        
     Beginning
Net
Asset
Value
    Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)(a)
       Net
Realized/
Unrealized
Gain (Loss)
       Total         

From

Net
Investment
Income

      

From

Accumulated

Net

Realized

Gains

       Return
of
Capital
       Total        Ending
Net
Asset
Value
 

Class A (9/95)

  

                                   

Year Ended 12/31

                                     

2013

  $ 21.02      $ .27         $ (.06      $ .21        $ (.29      $ (1.35      $ (.13      $ (1.77      $ 19.46   

2012

    18.76        .28           3.07           3.35          (.43        (.66                  (1.09        21.02   

2011(d)

    18.84        .09           .05           .14          (.11        (.11                  (.22        18.76   

Year Ended 10/31

                                     

2011

    17.58        .29           1.43           1.72          (.22        (.24                  (.46        18.84   

2010

    12.44        .32           5.20           5.52          (.38                            (.38        17.58   

2009

    12.67        .41           (.16        .25            (.34                  (.14        (.48        12.44   

Class B (9/95)

  

                                   

Year Ended 12/31

                                     

2013

    20.53        .09           (.04        .05          (.12        (1.35        (.13        (1.60        18.98   

2012

    18.34        .11           3.01           3.12          (.27        (.66                  (.93        20.53   

2011(d)

    18.42        .06           .04           .10          (.07        (.11                  (.18        18.34   

Year Ended 10/31

                                     

2011

    17.18        .14           1.42           1.56          (.11        (.21                  (.32        18.42   

2010

    12.17        .21           5.07           5.28          (.27                            (.27        17.18   

2009

    12.39        .36           (.19        .17            (.25                  (.14        (.39        12.17   

Class C (2/00)

  

                                   

Year Ended 12/31

                                     

2013

    20.59        .12           (.08        .04          (.12        (1.35        (.13        (1.60        19.03   

2012

    18.39        .12           3.01           3.13          (.27        (.66                  (.93        20.59   

2011(d)

    18.46        .06           .05           .11          (.07        (.11                  (.18        18.39   

Year Ended 10/31

                                     

2011

    17.23        .14           1.41           1.55          (.08        (.24                  (.32        18.46   

2010

    12.21        .19           5.12           5.31          (.29                            (.29        17.23   

2009

    12.44        .34           (.17        .17            (.26                  (.14        (.40        12.21   

Class R3 (9/01)

  

                                   

Year Ended 12/31

                                     

2013

    21.29        .23           (.08        .15          (.24        (1.35        (.13        (1.72        19.72   

2012

    18.99        .23           3.12           3.35          (.39        (.66                  (1.05        21.29   

2011(d)

    19.07        .08           .05           .13          (.10        (.11                  (.21        18.99   

Year Ended 10/31

                                     

2011

    17.79        .24           1.46           1.70          (.16        (.26                  (.42        19.07   

2010

    12.57        .31           5.24           5.55          (.33                            (.33        17.79   

2009

    12.79        .39           (.16        .23            (.31                  (.14        (.45        12.57   

Class R6 (4/13)

  

                                   

2013(e)

    24.06        .31           (2.94        (2.63         (.23        (1.35        (.13        (1.71        19.72   

Class I (6/95)

  

                                   

Year Ended 12/31

                                     

2013

    21.26        .35           (.08        .27          (.35        (1.35        (.13        (1.83        19.70   

2012

    18.97        .35           3.09           3.44          (.49        (.66                  (1.15        21.26   

2011(d)

    19.05        .10           .05           .15          (.12        (.11                  (.23        18.97   

Year Ended 10/31

                                     

2011

    17.77        .34           1.45           1.79          (.24        (.27                  (.51        19.05   

2010

    12.57        .36           5.26           5.62          (.42                            (.42        17.77   

2009

    12.79        .47           (.19        .28            (.36                  (.14        (.50        12.57   

 

(a) Per share Net Investment Income (Loss) is calculated using the average daily shares method.  
(b) Total return is the combination of changes in net asset value without any sales charge, reinvested dividend income at net asset value and reinvested capital gains distributions at net asset value, if any. Total returns are not annualized.  
(c) After fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement from the Adviser, where applicable.  

 

  58       Nuveen Investments


       Ratios/Supplemental Data  
                 Ratios to Average
Net Assets Before
Waiver/Reimbursement
        Ratios to Average
Net Assets After
Waiver/Reimbursement(c)
 
                                                   
Total
Return(b)
    

Ending
Net
Assets
(000)

         Expenses      Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)
         Expenses      Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)
     Portfolio
Turnover
Rate(f)
 
                   
                   
  1.04    $ 634,978          1.25      1.25       1.25      1.25      89
  18.07         750,073          1.28         1.33          1.26         1.35         76   
  .72         722,221          1.31      2.82       1.28      2.86      21   
                   
  9.94         732,181          1.28         1.54          1.27         1.55         103   
  44.82         686,148          1.24         2.04          1.24         2.04         133   
  2.82         287,493            1.27         3.81            1.27         3.81         117   
                   
                   
  .29         1,281          2.00         .42          2.00         .42         89   
  17.18         1,953          2.03         .54          2.01         .56         76   
  .55         2,233          2.06      2.06       2.03      2.09      21   
                   
  9.18         2,269          2.03         .77          2.02         .78         103   
  43.66         3,005          1.99         1.42          1.99         1.42         133   
  2.13         2,693            2.02         3.57            2.02         3.57         117   
                   
                   
  .25         72,172          2.00         .56          2.00         .56         89   
  17.19         69,935          2.03         .57          2.01         .60         76   
  .60         59,469          2.06      2.06       2.03      2.09      21   
                   
  9.13         60,812          2.04         .76          2.02         .77         103   
  43.76         52,732          1.99         1.26          1.99         1.26         133   
  2.09         17,632            2.02         3.26            2.02         3.26         117   
                   
                   
  .75         59,238          1.50         1.02          1.50         1.02         89   
  17.80         72,742          1.53         1.09          1.51         1.12         76   
  .66         62,888          1.56      2.59       1.53      2.62      21   
                   
  9.68         63,335          1.54         1.30          1.52         1.31         103   
  44.54         47,970          1.48         1.99          1.48         1.99         133   
  2.62         46,382            1.52         3.61            1.52         3.61         117   
                   
  (10.88      79,796            .88      2.15         .88      2.15      89   
                   
                   
  1.32         3,105,950          1.00         1.56          1.00         1.56         89   
  18.34         3,214,954          1.03         1.62          1.01         1.65         76   
  .78         2,280,291          1.06      3.08       1.03      3.12      21   
                   
  10.24         2,271,583          1.04         1.79          1.02         1.80         103   
  45.16         1,630,989          .99         2.29          .99         2.29         133   
  3.11         660,342            1.02         4.39            1.02         4.39         117   

 

(d) For the two months ended December 31, 2011.  
(e) For the period April 30, 2013 (commencement of operations) through December 31, 2013.  
(f) Portfolio Turnover Rate is calculated based on the lesser of long-term purchases or sales (as disclosed in Footnote 5 – Investment Transactions) divided by the average long-term market value during the period.  
* Annualized.  

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

Nuveen Investments     59   


Notes to

 

Financial Statements

 

1. General Information and Significant Accounting Policies

General Information

Trust Information

Nuveen Investment Funds, Inc. (the “Trust”), is an open-end investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. The Trust is comprised of Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund (“Global Infrastructure”), Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund (“Real Asset Income”) and Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund (“Real Estate Securities”) (each a “Fund” and collectively, the “Funds”), as diversified funds (non-diversified for Real Estate Securities), among others. The Trust was incorporated in the State of Maryland on August 20, 1987.

Investment Adviser

The Funds’ investment adviser, Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC (the “Adviser”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nuveen Investments, Inc. (“Nuveen”). The Adviser is responsible for each Fund’s overall investment strategy and asset allocation decisions. The Adviser has entered into sub-advisory agreements with the Nuveen Asset Management, LLC, (the “Sub-Adviser”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Adviser, under which the Sub-Adviser manages the investment portfolios of the Funds.

Investment Objective

Global Infrastructure’s investment objective is to seek long-term growth of capital and income. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities issued by U.S. and non-U.S. infrastructure-related companies. Infrastructure related companies are defined as companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, development, construction, financing or operation of infrastructure assets, or have at least 50% of the fair market value of their assets invested in infrastructure assets.

Equity securities in which the Fund invests include common and preferred stocks, publicly-traded units of master limited partnerships (“MLPs”), and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The Fund may also invest in exchange traded funds (“ETFs”) and other investment companies (“investment companies”). The Fund may invest in companies of any size, including small- and mid-capitalization companies.

The Fund’s investments include infrastructure-related securities of non-U.S. issuers. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 40% of its net assets in securities of non-U.S. issuers and, in any case, will invest at least 30% of its net assets in such issuers. The Fund considers an issuer to be non-U.S. if its legal residence is in a country other than the United States, its securities principally trade in a non-U.S. market, or it derives a significant portion of either its revenues or pretax income from activities outside the United States.

The Fund diversifies its investments among a number of different countries throughout the world. Up to 25% of the Fund’s total assets may be invested in equity securities of emerging market issuers. A country is considered to be an “emerging market” if it is defined as such by Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc.

Real Asset Income’s investment objective is to seek a high level of current income. The secondary investment objective of the Fund is to seek capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities issued by real asset related companies that are generating income at the time of purchase. Real asset related companies are defined as: (i) companies that are in the energy, telecommunications, utilities or materials sectors; (ii) companies in the real estate or transportation industry groups; (iii) companies, if not in one of these sectors or industries, that (a) derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, management, operation, development, construction, financing, or sale of real assets, or (b) have at least 50% of the fair market value of their assets invested in real assets; or (iv) pooled investment vehicles that primarily invest in the foregoing companies or that are otherwise designed primarily to provide investment exposure to real assets. The categories of real assets on which the Fund will focus its investments are infrastructure and real estate.

The Fund will invest in both equity securities and debt securities, but will not invest more than 40% of its net assets in debt securities. All or a portion of the Fund’s debt securities may be rated lower than investment grade (BB/Ba or lower). Equity securities in which the Fund may invest may be of any market capitalization, including small- and mid-capitalization companies, and include common stock, preferred securities, hybrid securities and convertible securities, as well as interests in real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), exchange-traded notes (“ETNs”), other investment companies (including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”)) and equity securities issued by master limited partnerships (“MLPs”). Debt securities in which the Fund may invest include corporate debt obligations, mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”) and debt securities issued by MLPs.

 

  60       Nuveen Investments


The Fund will invest in non-U.S. securities, but will limit its exposure to emerging markets to 50% of its net assets at the time of purchase.

The infrastructure assets that Global Infrastructure and Real Asset Income invests consists of the physical structures and networks upon which the operation, growth and development of a community depends, which include water, sewer, and energy utilities; transportation and communication networks; health care facilities, government accommodations, and other public service facilities; and shipping, timber, steel, alternative energy, and other resources and services necessary for the construction and maintenance of these physical structures and networks.

Real Estate Securities’ investment objective is to provide above average current income and long-term capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in income-producing common stocks of publicly traded companies engaged in the real estate industry. These companies derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, construction, management, financing or sale of real estate, or have at least 50% of the fair market value of their assets invested in real estate.

The Fund may invest up to 15% of its total assets in non-dollar denominated equity securities of non-U.S. issuers. In addition, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its assets, collectively, in non-dollar denominated equity securities of non-U.S. issuers and in dollar-denominated equity securities of non-U.S. issuers that are either listed on a U.S. stock exchange or represented by depositary receipts that may or may not be sponsored by a domestic bank. Up to 15% of the Fund’s total assets may be invested in equity securities of emerging market issuers. A country is considered to be an “emerging market” if it is defined as such by Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc.

Each Fund may utilize derivatives, including options, futures contracts, options on futures contracts, and forward foreign currency exchange contracts. The Fund may use these derivatives to manage market or business risk, enhance the Fund’s return, or hedge against adverse movements in currency exchange rates.

The Funds’ most recent prospectus provides further descriptions of each Fund’s investment objective, principal investment strategies and principal risks.

Class R6 Shares

On April 30, 2013, Real Estate Securities began offering Class R6 Shares. In connection with this offering certain limited categories of investors of Class I Shares, as defined in the Fund’s prospectus, were exchanged to Class R6 Shares.

Significant Accounting Policies

The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Funds in the preparation of their financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”).

Investment Transactions

Investment transactions are recorded on a trade date basis. Realized gains and losses from transactions are determined on the specific identification method, which is the same basis used for federal income tax purposes. Investments purchased on a when-issued/delayed delivery basis may have extended settlement periods. Any investments so purchased are subject to market fluctuation during this period. The Funds have instructed the custodian to earmark securities in the Funds’ portfolios with a current value at least equal to the amount of the when-issued/delayed delivery purchase commitments. As of December 31, 2013, the Funds had no outstanding when-issued/delayed delivery purchase commitments.

Investment Income

Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date or, for foreign securities, when information is available. Interest income, which reflects the amortization of premiums and includes accretion of discounts for financial reporting purposes, is recorded on an accrual basis. Securities lending income is comprised of fees earned from borrowers and income earned on cash collateral investments, net of lending agent fees.

Professional Fees

Professional fees presented on the Statement of Operations consist of legal fees incurred in the normal course of operations, audit fees, tax consulting fees and, in some cases, workout expenditures. Workout expenditures are incurred in an attempt to protect or enhance an investment or to pursue other claims or legal actions on behalf of Fund shareholders. Should a Fund receive a refund of workout expenditures paid in a prior reporting period, such amounts will be recognized as “Legal fee refund” on the Statement of Operations.

Dividends and Distributions to Shareholders

Dividends from net investment income are declared and distributed to shareholders annually for Global Infrastructure and quarterly for Real Asset Income and Real Estate Securities. Dividends from net realized capital gains from investment transactions, if any, are declared and distributed to shareholders at least annually. Furthermore, capital gains are distributed only to the extent they exceed available capital loss carryforwards.

Effective January 1, 2014, Real Asset Income will declare dividends from its net investment income daily and pay shareholders monthly.

 

Nuveen Investments     61   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

 

Distributions to shareholders are recorded on the ex-dividend date. The amount and timing of distributions are determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP.

Real Asset Income and Real Estate Securities receive substantial distributions from holdings in REITs. REIT distributions received by the Funds are generally comprised of ordinary income, long-term capital gains, and a return of REIT capital. The actual character of amounts received during the period is not known until after the fiscal year-end. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, the character of distributions to Real Asset Income and Real Estate Securities from the REITs was 85.04% and 72.54% ordinary income, 5.42% and 16.62% long-term capital gains, and 9.54% and 10.85% return of REIT capital, respectively. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, the character of distributions to Real Asset Income and Real Estate Securities from the REITs was 87.89% and 75.02% ordinary income, 4.89% and 11.61% long-term capital gains, and 7.22% and 13.37% return of REIT capital, respectively.

For the fiscal years ended December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, the Funds applied the actual character of distributions reported by the REITs in which the Funds invest to their receipts from the REITs. If a REIT held in the portfolio of investments did not report the actual character of its distributions during the period, the Funds treated the distributions as ordinary income.

The actual character of distributions made by the Funds during the fiscal years ended December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, are reflected in the accompanying financial statements.

Share Classes and Sales Charges

Class A Shares are generally sold with an up-front sales charge and incur a .25% annual 12b-1 service fee. Class A Share purchases of $1 million or more are sold at net asset value without an up-front sales charge but may be subject to a contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) if redeemed within twelve months of purchase. Global Infrastructure and Real Asset Income do not issue Class B Shares. Real Estate Securities will issue Class B Shares upon the exchange of Class B Shares from another Nuveen mutual fund or for purposes of dividend reinvestment, but Class B Shares are not available for new accounts or for additional investment into existing accounts. Class B Shares were sold without an up-front sales charge but incur a .75% annual 12b-1 distribution fee and a .25% annual 12b-1 service fee. Class B Shares are subject to a CDSC of up to 5% depending upon the length of time the shares are held by the investor (CDSC is reduced to 0% at the end of six years). Class B Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares eight years after purchase. Class C Shares are sold without an up-front sales charge but incur a .75% annual 12b-1 distribution fee and a .25% annual 12b-1 service fee. Class C Shares are subject to a CDSC of 1% if redeemed within twelve months of purchase. Class R3 Shares are sold without an up-front sales charge but incur a .25% annual 12b-1 distribution and a .25% annual 12b-1 service fee. Class R6 Shares and Class I Shares are not subject to any sales charge or 12b-1 distribution or service fees.

Multiclass Operations and Allocations

Income and expenses of the Funds that are not directly attributable to a specific class of shares are prorated among the classes based on the relative net assets of each class. Expenses directly attributable to a class of shares are recorded to the specific class. Currently, the only expenses that are allocated on a class-specific basis are 12b-1 distribution and shareholder service fees. Sub-transfer agent fees, which are recognized as a component of “Shareholder servicing fees and expenses” on the Statement of Operations, which are prorated among the classes based on relative net assets, are not charged to Class R6 Shares.

Realized and unrealized capital gains and losses of the Funds are prorated among the classes based on the relative net assets of each class.

Indemnifications

Under the Trust’s organizational documents, its officers and directors are indemnified against certain liabilities arising out of the performance of their duties to the Trust. In addition, in the normal course of business, the Trust enters into contracts that provide general indemnifications to other parties. The Trust’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Trust that have not yet occurred. However, the Trust has not had prior claims or losses pursuant to these contracts and expects the risk of loss to be remote.

Netting Agreements

In the ordinary course of business, the Funds may enter into transactions subject to enforceable master repurchase agreements (excluding Global Infrastructure and Real Estate Securities), International Swaps and Derivative Association, Inc. (“ISDA”) master agreements or other similar arrangements (“netting agreements”). Generally, the right to offset in netting agreements allows each Fund to offset any exposure to a specific counterparty with any collateral received or delivered to that counterparty based on the terms of the agreements. Generally, each Fund manages its cash collateral and securities collateral on a counterparty basis. As of December 31, 2013, the Funds were not invested in any portfolio securities or derivatives, other than repurchase agreements further described in Note 3 – Portfolio Securities and Investments in Derivatives, that are subject to netting agreements.

 

  62       Nuveen Investments


Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results may differ from those estimates.

2. Investment Valuation and Fair Value Measurements

Investment Valuation

Common stocks and other equity-type securities are valued at the last sales price on the securities exchange on which such securities are primarily traded and are generally classified as Level 1 for fair value measurement purposes. Securities primarily traded on the NASDAQ National Market (“NASDAQ”) are valued, except as indicated below, at the NASDAQ Official Closing Price and are generally classified as Level 1. However, securities traded on a securities exchange or NASDAQ for which there were no transactions on a given day or securities not listed on a securities exchange or NASDAQ are valued at the quoted bid price and are generally classified as Level 2. Prices of certain American Depositary Receipts (“ADR”) held by the Funds that trade in the United States are valued based on the last traded price, official closing price, or the most recent bid price of the underlying non-U.S.-traded stock, adjusted as appropriate for the underlying-to-ADR conversion ratio and foreign exchange rate, and from time-to-time may also be adjusted further to take into account material events that may take place after the close of the local non-U.S. market but before the close of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), which may represent a transfer from a Level 1 to a Level 2 security.

Investments in investment companies are valued at their respective net asset values on the valuation date. These investment vehicles are generally classified as Level 1.

Prices of fixed-income securities are provided by a pricing service approved by the Funds’ Board of Directors. These securities are generally classified as Level 2. The pricing service establishes a security’s fair value using methods that may include consideration of the following: yields or prices of investments of comparable quality, type of issue, coupon, maturity and rating, market quotes or indications of value from security dealers, evaluations of anticipated cash flows or collateral, general market conditions and other information and analysis, including the obligor’s credit characteristics considered relevant. In pricing certain securities, particularly less liquid and lower quality securities, the pricing service may consider information about a security, its issuer, or market activity, provided by the Adviser. These securities are generally classified as Level 2 or Level 3 depending on the priority of the significant inputs.

If significant market events occur between the time of determination of the closing price of a foreign security on an exchange and the time that the Funds’ net asset values (NAV) are determined, or if under the Funds’ procedures, the closing price of a foreign security is not deemed to be reliable, the security would be valued at fair value as determined in accordance with procedures established in good faith by the Funds’ Board of Directors. These securities are generally classified as Level 2 or Level 3 depending on the priority of the significant inputs.

Repurchase agreements are valued at contract amount plus accrued interest, which approximates market value. These securities are generally classified as Level 2.

Certain securities may not be able to be priced by the pre-established pricing methods as described above. Such securities may be valued by the Funds’ Board of Directors or its designee at fair value. These securities generally include, but are not limited to, restricted securities (securities which may not be publicly sold without registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended) for which a pricing service is unable to provide a market price; securities whose trading has been formally suspended; debt securities that have gone into default and for which there is no current market quotation; a security whose market price is not available from a pre-established pricing source; a security with respect to which an event has occurred that is likely to materially affect the value of the security after the market has closed but before the calculation of a Fund’s net asset value (as may be the case in non-U.S. markets on which the security is primarily traded) or make it difficult or impossible to obtain a reliable market quotation; and a security whose price, as provided by the pricing service, is not deemed to reflect the security’s fair value. As a general principle, the fair value of a security would appear to be the amount that the owner might reasonably expect to receive for it in a current sale. A variety of factors may be considered in determining the fair value of such securities, which may include consideration of the following: yields or prices of investments of comparable quality, type of issue, coupon, maturity and rating, market quotes or indications of value from security dealers, evaluations of anticipated cash flows or collateral, general market conditions and other information and analysis, including the obligor’s credit characteristics considered relevant. These securities are generally classified as Level 2 or Level 3 depending on the priority of the significant inputs. Regardless of the method employed to value a particular security, all valuations are subject to review by the Funds’ Board of Directors or its designee.

Fair Value Measurements

Fair value is defined as the price that the Funds would receive upon selling an investment or transferring a liability in an orderly transaction to an independent buyer in the principal or most advantageous market for the investment. A three-tier hierarchy is used to maximize the use of observable

 

Nuveen Investments     63   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

 

market data and minimize the use of unobservable inputs and to establish classification of fair value measurements for disclosure purposes. Observable inputs reflect the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. Observable inputs are based on market data obtained from sources independent of the reporting entity. Unobservable inputs reflect the reporting entity’s own assumptions about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. Unobservable inputs are based on the best information available in the circumstances. The following is a summary of the three-tiered hierarchy of valuation input levels.

 

Level 1 –   Inputs are unadjusted and prices are determined using quoted prices in active markets for identical securities.
Level 2 –   Prices are determined using other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.).
Level 3 –   Prices are determined using significant unobservable inputs (including management’s assumptions in determining the fair value of investments).

The inputs or methodologies used for valuing securities are not an indication of the risks associated with investing in those securities. The following is a summary of each Fund’s fair value measurements as of the end of the reporting period:

 

Global Infrastructure      Level 1        Level 2        Level 3        Total  
Long-Term Investments*:                    

Common Stocks

     $ 612,421,083         $ 1,755,456         $   —         $ 614,176,539   

Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks

       18,926,785                               18,926,785   

Investment Companies

       1,903,234                               1,903,234   
Short-Term Investments:                    

Money Market Funds

       10,928,677                               10,928,677   
Total      $ 644,179,779         $ 1,755,456         $   —         $ 645,935,235   
* Refer to the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments for industry classifications and a breakdown of Common Stocks classified as Level 2.

 

Real Asset Income      Level 1        Level 2        Level 3        Total  
Long-Term Investments*:                    

Common Stocks

     $ 29,900,868         $         $   —         $ 29,900,868   

Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks

       25,236,711                               25,236,711   

Convertible Preferred Securities

       2,904,842           1,024,898                     3,929,740   

$25 Par (or similar) Retail Structures

       29,143,258           2,603,558                     31,746,816   

Convertible Bonds

                 3,007,550                     3,007,550   

Corporate Bonds

                 25,136,790                     25,136,790   

$1,000 Par (or similar) Institutional Structures

                 6,023,230                     6,023,230   

Common Stock Right

       3,981                               3,981   

Investment Companies

       1,343,254                               1,343,254   
Short-Term Investments:                    

Repurchase Agreements

                 4,677,177                     4,677,177   
Total      $ 88,532,914         $ 42,473,203         $         $ 131,006,117   
* Refer to the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments for industry classifications and a breakdown of Convertible Preferred Securities and $25 Par (or similar) Retail Structures classified as Level 2.

 

Real Estate Securities      Level 1        Level 2        Level 3        Total  
Long-Term Investments*:                    

Common Stocks

     $ 69,006,539         $         $         $ 69,006,539   

Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks

       3,840,884,217                     16,136           3,840,900,353   

$25 Par (or similar) Retail Structures

       2,321,229                               2,321,229   

Convertible Bonds

                 8,856,787                     8,856,787   

Investment Companies

       3,616,795                               3,616,795   

Investments Purchased with Collateral from Securities Lending

       155,691,006                               155,691,006   
Total      $ 4,071,519,786         $ 8,856,787         $ 16,136         $ 4,080,392,709   
* Refer to the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments for industry classifications and a breakdown of Real Estate Investment Trust Common Stocks classified as Level 3.

 

  64       Nuveen Investments


The table below presents the transfers in and out of the three valuation levels for Real Asset Income as of the end of the reporting period when compared to the valuation levels as of the end of the previous fiscal year. Changes in valuation inputs or methodologies may result in transfers into or out of an assigned level within the fair value hierarchy. Transfers in or out of levels are generally due to the availability of publicly available information and to the significance or extent a manager determines that the valuation inputs or methodologies may impact the valuation of those securities.

 

    Level 1            Level 2            Level 3  
     Transfers In        (Transfers Out)             Transfers In        (Transfers Out)             Transfers In        (Transfers Out)  
$25 Par (or similar) Retail Structures   $   —         $ (482,565        $ 482,565         $   —           $   —         $   —   

$1,000 Par (or similar) Institutional Structures

              (1,527,833            1,527,833                                     

The Nuveen funds’ Board of Directors/Trustees is responsible for the valuation process and has delegated the oversight of the daily valuation process to the Adviser’s Valuation Committee. The Valuation Committee, pursuant to the valuation policies and procedures adopted by the Board of Directors/Trustees, is responsible for making fair value determinations, evaluating the effectiveness of the funds’ pricing policies, and reporting to the Board of Directors/Trustees. The Valuation Committee is aided in its efforts by the Adviser’s dedicated Securities Valuation Team, which is responsible for administering the daily valuation process and applying fair value methodologies as approved by the Valuation Committee. When determining the reliability of independent pricing services for investments owned by the funds, the Valuation Committee, among other things, conducts due diligence reviews of the pricing services and monitors the quality of security prices received through various testing reports conducted by the Securities Valuation Team.

The Valuation Committee will consider pricing methodologies it deems relevant and appropriate when making a fair value determination, based on the facts and circumstances specific to the portfolio instrument. Fair value determinations generally will be derived as follows, using public or private market information:

 

  (i) If available, fair value determinations shall be derived by extrapolating from recent transactions or quoted prices for identical or comparable securities.

 

  (ii) If such information is not available, an analytical valuation methodology may be used based on other available information including, but not limited to: analyst appraisals, research reports, corporate action information, issuer financial statements and shelf registration statements. Such analytical valuation methodologies may include, but are not limited to: multiple of earnings, discount from market value of a similar freely-traded security, discounted cash flow analysis, book value or a multiple thereof, risk premium/yield analysis, yield to maturity and/or fundamental investment analysis.

The purchase price of a portfolio instrument will be used to fair value the instrument only if no other valuation methodology is available or deemed appropriate, and it is determined that the purchase price fairly reflects the instrument’s current value.

For each portfolio security that has been fair valued pursuant to the policies adopted by the Board of Directors/Trustees, the fair value price is compared against the last available and next available market quotations. The Valuation Committee reviews the results of such testing and fair valuation occurrences are reported to the Board of Directors/Trustees.

3. Portfolio Securities and Investments in Derivatives

Portfolio Securities

Foreign Currency Transactions

Each Fund is authorized to engage in foreign currency exchange transactions, including forward foreign currency exchange, futures, options and swap contracts. To the extent that the Funds invest in securities and/or contracts that are denominated in a currency other than U.S. dollars, the Funds will be subject to currency risk, which is the risk that an increase in the U.S. dollar relative to the foreign currency will reduce returns or portfolio value. Generally, when the U.S. dollar rises in value against a foreign currency, the Funds’ investments denominated in that currency will lose value because its currency is worth fewer U.S. dollars; the opposite effect occurs if the U.S. dollar falls in relative value. Investments and other assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are converted into U.S. dollars on a spot (i.e. cash) basis at the spot rate prevailing in the foreign currency exchange market at the time of valuation. Purchases and sales of investments and income denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars on the respective dates of such transactions.

 

 

Nuveen Investments     65   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

 

Global Infrastructure and Real Asset Income may invest in non-U.S. securities (as described in Note 1 – General Information and Significant Accounting Policies, Investment Objective). As of December 31, 2013, Global Infrastructure’s and Real Asset Income’s investments in non-U.S. securities were as follows:

 

Global Infrastructure      Value        % of
Net Assets
 
Country:          

Canada

     $ 61,455,171           9.4

Hong Kong

       43,234,157           6.6   

France

       36,135,756           5.5   

Australia

       35,847,501           5.5   

Italy

       31,081,933           4.8   

United Kingdom

       23,752,160           3.6   

Singapore

       19,545,685           3.0   

New Zealand

       17,113,714           2.6   

Other*

       116,621,642           18.0   
Total      $ 384,787,719           59.0
* Includes all other countries less than $17,113,714.

 

Real Asset Income      Value        % of
Net Assets
 
Country:          

Australia

     $ 8,129,859           6.1

United Kingdom

       5,523,288           4.2   

Hong Kong

       4,781,350           3.6   

Other*

       21,833,329           16.5   
Total      $ 40,267,826           30.4
* Includes all other countries less than $4,781,350.

The books and records of the Funds are maintained in U.S. dollars. Foreign currencies, assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. dollars at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Investment transactions, income and expenses are translated on the respective dates of such transactions. Net realized foreign currency gains and losses resulting from changes in exchange rates include foreign currency gains and losses between trade date and settlement date of the transactions, foreign currency transactions, and the difference between the amounts of interest and dividends recorded on the books of a Fund and the amounts actually received.

The realized gains and losses resulting from changes in foreign currency exchange rates and changes in foreign exchange rates associated with other assets and liabilities on investments, forward foreign currency exchange contracts, futures, options purchased and options written, when applicable, are recognized as a component of “Net realized gain (loss) from investments and foreign currency,” on the Statement of Operations.

The unrealized gains and losses resulting from changes in foreign currency exchange rates and changes in foreign exchange rates associated with other assets and liabilities on investments are recognized as a component of “Change in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of investments and foreign currency,” on the Statement of Operations, when applicable. The unrealized gains and losses resulting from changes in foreign exchange rates associated with forward foreign currency exchange contracts, futures, options purchased and options written are recognized as a component of “Change in net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of forward foreign currency exchange contracts, futures, options purchased and options written,” respectively, on the Statement of Operations, when applicable.

Securities Lending

In order to generate additional income, Real Estate Securities may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of its total assets (which includes collateral for securities on loan) to broker-dealers, banks, or other institutions. The Fund’s policy is to receive cash collateral equal to at least 102% of the value of securities loaned, which is recognized as “Collateral from securities lending program“ on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The adequacy of the collateral is monitored on a daily basis. If the value of the securities on loan increases, such that the level of collateralization falls below 102%, additional collateral is received from the borrower, which is recognized as “Due from broker” on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities, when applicable. As with other extensions of credit, there may be risks of delay in recovery of the securities or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the security fail financially.

 

 

  66       Nuveen Investments


The Fund’s custodian serves as the securities lending agent for the Fund. The Fund pays the custodian a fee based on the Fund’s proportional share of the custodian’s expense of operating its securities lending program. Collateral for securities on loan is invested in a money market fund, which is recognized as “Investments purchased with collateral from securities lending, at value” on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

The following table presents the securities out on loan for the following Fund that are subject to netting agreements as of the end of the reporting period, and the collateral delivered related to those securities.

 

Fund      Counterparty       

Investments, at Value

      

Collateral

Pledged (From)
Counterparty*

       Net
Exposure
 
Real Estate Securities        U.S. Bank         $ 149,951,833         $ (149,951,833      $   —   
* As of December 31, 2013, the value of the collateral pledged from the counterparty exceeded the value of the securities out on loan. Refer to the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments for details on the securities out on loan.

Income from securities lending, net of fees paid, is recognized on the Statement of Operations as “Securities lending income, net.” Securities lending fees paid by the Fund during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, was as follows:

 

        Real Estate
Securities
 
Securities lending fees paid      $ 62,952   

Repurchase Agreements

In connection with transactions in repurchase agreements, it is each Fund’s policy that its custodian take possession of the underlying collateral securities, the fair value of which exceeds the principal amount of the repurchase transaction, including accrued interest, at all times. If the counterparty defaults, and the fair value of the collateral declines, realization of the collateral may be delayed or limited.

The following table presents the repurchase agreements for the Funds that are subject to netting agreements as of the end of the reporting period, and the collateral delivered related to those repurchase agreements.

 

Fund      Counterparty       

Short-Term

Investments, at Value

      

Collateral

Pledged (From)
Counterparty*

       Net
Exposure
 
Real Asset Income        State Street Bank         $ 4,677,177         $ (4,677,177      $   —   
* As of December 31, 2013, the value of the collateral pledged from the counterparty exceeded the value of the repurchase agreements. Refer to the Fund’s Portfolio of Investments for details on the repurchase agreements.

Investment in Derivatives

Each Fund is authorized to invest in certain derivative instruments. The Funds record derivative instruments at fair value, with changes in fair value recognized on the Statement of Operations, when applicable. Even though the Funds’ investments in derivatives may represent economic hedges, they are not considered to be hedge transactions for financial reporting purposes. Although the Funds are authorized to invest in derivative instruments and may do so in the future, they did not make any such investments during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013.

Market and Counterparty Credit Risk

In the normal course of business each Fund may invest in financial instruments and enter into financial transactions where risk of potential loss exists due to changes in the market (market risk) or failure of the other party to the transaction to perform (counterparty credit risk). The potential loss could exceed the value of the financial assets recorded on the financial statements. Financial assets, which potentially expose each Fund to counterparty credit risk, consist principally of cash due from counterparties on forward, option and swap transactions, when applicable. The extent of each Fund’s exposure to counterparty credit risk in respect to these financial assets approximates their carrying value as recorded on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

Each Fund helps manage counterparty credit risk by entering into agreements only with counterparties the Adviser believes have the financial resources to honor their obligations and by having the Adviser monitor the financial stability of the counterparties. Additionally, counterparties may be required to pledge collateral daily (based on the daily valuation of the financial asset) on behalf of each Fund with a value approximately equal to the amount of any unrealized gain above a pre-determined threshold. Reciprocally, when each Fund has an unrealized loss, the Funds have instructed the custodian to pledge assets of the Funds as collateral with a value approximately equal to the amount of the unrealized loss above a pre-determined threshold. Collateral pledges are monitored and subsequently adjusted if and when the valuations fluctuate, either up or down, by at least the pre-determined threshold amount.

 

Nuveen Investments     67   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

 

4. Fund Shares

Transactions in Fund shares were as follows:

 

       Global Infrastructure  
       Year Ended
12/31/13
       Year Ended
12/31/12
 
        Shares        Amount        Shares        Amount  
Shares sold:                    

Class A

       5,588,179         $ 58,082,505           3,478,174         $ 31,964,173   

Class C

       588,366           5,974,441           425,964           3,895,174   

Class R3

       9,318           95,677           12,464           119,239   

Class I

       32,076,549           322,549,055           15,769,171           145,565,114   
Shares issued to shareholders due to reinvestment of distributions:                    

Class A

       518,746           5,293,844           252,591           2,409,930   

Class C

       88,078           885,185           39,983           378,359   

Class R3

       725           7,473           383           3,696   

Class I

       839,817           8,581,619           385,771           3,694,828   
         39,709,778           401,469,799           20,364,501           188,030,513   
Shares redeemed:                    

Class A

       (2,951,809        (30,304,376        (2,553,265        (23,453,558

Class C

       (222,964        (2,269,796        (223,142        (2,020,642

Class R3

       (10,089        (104,418        (441        (3,871

Class I

       (7,997,102        (82,211,945        (3,939,153        (36,542,625
         (11,181,964        (114,890,535        (6,716,001        (62,020,696
Net increase (decrease)        28,527,814         $ 286,579,264           13,648,500         $ 126,009,817   
       Real Asset Income  
       Year Ended
12/31/13
       Year Ended
12/31/12
 
        Shares        Amount        Shares        Amount  
Shares sold:                    

Class A

       2,431,065         $ 56,055,103           502,277         $ 10,954,370   

Class C

       989,023           22,751,237           196,333           4,342,140   

Class R3

       N/A           N/A                       

Class I

       2,674,471           61,810,490           726,485           15,701,933   
Shares issued to shareholders due to reinvestment of distributions:                    

Class A

       138,474           3,082,882           20,720           457,333   

Class C

       53,642           1,190,666           5,423           119,973   

Class R3

       N/A           N/A           28           602   

Class I

       151,998           3,393,455           65,588           1,444,332   
         6,438,673           148,283,833           1,516,854           33,020,683   
Shares redeemed:                    

Class A

       (800,797        (18,021,111        (60,047        (1,334,633

Class C

       (123,929        (2,805,802        (3,063        (64,284

Class R3

       N/A           N/A           (2,555        (53,023

Class I

       (1,388,622        (31,981,460        (62,790        (1,389,496
         (2,313,348        (52,808,373        (128,455        (2,841,436
Net increase (decrease)        4,125,325         $ 95,475,460           1,388,399         $ 30,179,247   

N/A – Real Asset Income does not offer Class R3 Shares. After the close of business on May 30, 2012, Real Asset Income liquidated all of its Class R3 Shares.

 

  68       Nuveen Investments


       Real Estate Securities  
       Year Ended
12/31/13
       Year Ended
12/31/12
 
        Shares        Amount        Shares        Amount  
Shares sold:                    

Class A

       7,757,954         $ 170,369,837           8,467,179         $ 174,797,170   

Class B – exchanges

       872           19,723           2,409           50,036   

Class C

       1,013,600           21,965,292           659,491           13,576,842   

Class R3

       991,198           22,034,952           1,313,731           27,304,524   

Class R6(1)

       3,419,556           74,250,553                       

Class R6(1) – exchange of Class I Shares

       973,923           23,432,591                       

Class I

       59,285,439           1,315,839,674           59,538,575           1,250,543,333   
Shares issued to shareholders due to reinvestment of distributions:                    

Class A

       2,758,391           54,751,181           1,813,351           37,580,459   

Class B

       6,006           115,283           4,063           82,016   

Class C

       215,600           4,145,216           109,808           2,221,592   

Class R3

       252,051           5,063,989           167,407           3,510,633   

Class R6(1)

       206,976           4,087,394                       

Class I

       9,806,899           197,096,861           5,494,261           115,226,777   
         86,688,465           1,893,172,546           77,570,275           1,624,893,382   
Shares redeemed:                    

Class A

       (13,565,549        (295,538,106        (13,093,291        (269,917,042

Class B

       (34,477        (720,628        (33,103        (674,461

Class C

       (834,178        (17,485,554        (606,332        (12,281,609

Class R3

       (1,656,763        (36,613,220        (1,375,299        (28,727,546

Class R6(1)

       (553,374        (12,003,650                    

Class I

       (61,623,386        (1,342,510,347        (34,038,553        (711,709,303

Class I – exchange to Class R6(1) Shares

       (973,923        (23,432,591                    
         (79,241,650        (1,728,304,096        (49,146,578        (1,023,309,961
Net increase (decrease)        7,446,815         $ 164,868,450           28,423,697         $ 601,583,421   

(1) – Class R6 Shares were established and commenced operations on April 30, 2013.

Class B Shares that converted to Class A Shares (recognized as a component of Class A Shares sold and Class B Shares redeemed) during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013 and fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, were as follows:

 

Fund      Year Ended
12/31/13
       Year Ended
12/31/12
 
Real Estate Securities                  30,196   

5. Investment Transactions

Purchases and sales (including maturities but excluding investments purchased with collateral from securities lending and short-term investments, where applicable) during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, were as follows:

 

        Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
Purchases      $ 1,143,452,133         $ 223,166,460         $ 3,908,122,699   
Sales and maturities        892,794,039           135,323,384           3,978,279,260   

6. Income Tax Information

Each Fund is a separate taxpayer for federal income tax purposes. Each Fund intends to distribute substantially all of its net investment income and net capital gains to shareholders and to otherwise comply with the requirements of Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to regulated investment companies. Therefore, no federal income tax provision is required.

For all open tax years and all major taxing jurisdictions, management of the Funds has concluded that there are no significant uncertain tax positions that would require recognition in the financial statements. Open tax years are those that are open for examination by taxing authorities (i.e., generally the last four tax year ends and the interim tax period since then). Furthermore, management of the Funds is also not aware of any tax positions for which it is reasonably possible that the total amounts of unrecognized tax benefits will significantly change in the next twelve months.

 

Nuveen Investments     69   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

 

The following information is presented on an income tax basis. Differences between amounts for financial statement and federal income tax purposes are primarily due to timing differences in recognizing certain gains and losses on investment transactions. To the extent that differences arise that are permanent in nature, such amounts are reclassified within the capital accounts as detailed below. Temporary differences do not require reclassification. Temporary and permanent differences do not impact the net asset values of the Funds.

As of December 31, 2013, the cost and unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of investments, as determined on a federal income tax basis, were as follows:

 

        Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
Cost of investments      $ 589,828,468         $ 134,220,944         $ 3,511,345,985   
Gross unrealized:               

Appreciation

     $ 68,717,340         $ 3,074,102         $ 673,628,853   

Depreciation

       (12,610,573        (6,288,929        (104,582,129
Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of investments      $ 56,106,767         $ (3,214,827      $ 569,046,724   

Permanent differences, primarily due to the federal taxes paid, REIT adjustments, investments in partnerships, foreign currency reclassifications, investments in passive foreign investment companies, complex securities character adjustments, return of capital distributions and distribution character reclassifications, resulted in reclassifications among the Funds’ components of net assets as of December 31, 2013, the Funds’ tax year end, as follows:

 

        Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
Capital paid-in      $ 82,639         $ (7,809      $ (27,125,473
Undistributed (Over-distribution of) net investment income        (100,749        295,049           44,651,348   
Accumulated net realized gain (loss)        18,110           (287,240        (17,525,875

The tax components of undistributed net ordinary income and net long-term capital gains as of December 31, 2013, the Funds’ tax year end, were as follows:

 

        Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
Undistributed net ordinary income1      $ 8,933,670         $ 96,767         $   —   
Undistributed net long-term capital gains        2,206,442                       
1 

Net ordinary income consists of net taxable income derived from dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains, if any.

The tax character of distributions paid during the Funds’ tax years ended December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, was designated for purposes of the dividends paid deduction as follows:

 

2013

     Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
Distributions from net ordinary income1      $ 34,609,305         $ 7,909,220         $ 149,471,076   
Distributions from net long-term capital gains2        3,608,099           394,016           186,148,844   
Return of capital                            27,186,136   

 

2012

     Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
Distributions from net ordinary income1      $ 13,134,374         $ 2,214,236         $ 156,884,100   
Distributions from net long-term capital gains                  30,517           53,025,444   
Return of capital                              
1 

Net ordinary income consists of net taxable income derived from dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains, if any.

2 

The Fund hereby designates as long-term capital gain dividend, pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code Section 852 (b)(3), the amount necessary to reduce earnings and profits of the Fund related to net capital gain to zero for the tax year ended December 31, 2013.

The Funds have elected to defer late-year losses in accordance with federal income tax rules. These losses are treated as having arisen on the first day of the following fiscal year. The Funds have elected to defer losses as follows:

 

       

Global
Infrastructure

      

Real Asset
Income

      

Real Estate
Securities

 
Post-October capital losses3      $         $ 111,764         $ 2,297,862   
Late-year ordinary losses4        345,926                     1,420,244   
3 

Capital losses incurred from November 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013, the Funds’ tax year end.

4 

Specified losses incurred from November 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013.

 

 

  70       Nuveen Investments


7. Management Fees and Other Transactions with Affiliates

Each Fund’s management fee compensates the Adviser for overall investment advisory and administrative services and general office facilities. The Sub-Adviser is compensated for its services to the Funds from the management fees paid to the Adviser.

Each Fund’s management fee consists of two components – a fund-level fee, based only on the amount of assets within each individual Fund, and a complex-level fee, based on the aggregate amount of all eligible fund assets managed by the Adviser. This pricing structure enables each Fund’s shareholders to benefit from growth in the assets within their respective Fund as well as from growth in the amount of complex-wide assets managed by the Adviser.

The annual fund-level fee for each Fund, payable monthly, is calculated according to the following schedule:

 

Average Daily Net Assets      Global
Infrastructure
Fund-Level Fee Rate
     Real Asset
Income
Fund-Level Fee Rate
     Real Estate
Securities
Fund-Level Fee Rate
 
For the first $125 million        .7500      .6000      .7000
For the next $125 million        .7375         .5875         .6875   
For the next $250 million        .7250         .5750         .6750   
For the next $500 million        .7125         .5625         .6625   
For the next $1 billion        .7000         .5500         .6500   
For net assets over $2 billion        .6750         .5250         .6250   

The annual complex-level fee for each Fund, payable monthly, is determined by taking the complex-level fee rate, which is based on the aggregate amount of “eligible assets” of all Nuveen funds as set forth in the schedule below, and making, as appropriate, an upward adjustment to that rate based upon the percentage of the particular fund’s assets that are not “eligible assets.” The complex level fee schedule for each Fund is as follows:

 

Complex-Level Asset Breakpoint Level*      Effective Rate at Breakpoint Level  
$55 billion        .2000
$56 billion        .1996   
$57 billion        .1989   
$60 billion        .1961   
$63 billion        .1931   
$66 billion        .1900   
$71 billion        .1851   
$76 billion        .1806   
$80 billion        .1773   
$91 billion        .1691   
$125 billion        .1599   
$200 billion        .1505   
$250 billion        .1469   
$300 billion        .1445   
* The complex-level fee is calculated based upon the aggregate daily “eligible assets” of all Nuveen Funds. Eligible assets do not include assets attributable to investments in other Nuveen Funds or assets in excess of $2 billion added to the Nuveen Fund complex in connection with the Adviser’s assumption of the management of the former First American Funds effective January 1, 2011. Eligible assets include closed-end fund assets managed by the Adviser that are attributable to certain types of leverage. For these purposes, leverage includes the closed-end funds’ use of preferred stock and borrowings and certain investments in the residual interest certificates (also called inverse floating rate securities) in tender option bond (TOB) trusts, including the portion of assets held by the TOB trust that has been effectively financed by the trust’s issuance of floating rate securities, subject to an agreement by the Adviser as to certain funds to limit the amount of such assets for determining eligible assets in certain circumstances. As of December 31, 2013, the complex-level fee rate for each Fund was as follows:

 

Fund      Complex-Level Fee Rate  
Global Infrastructure        .1752
Real Asset Income        .1686   
Real Estate Securities        .1869   

The Adviser has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse expenses through April 30, 2014 so that total annual Fund operating expenses (excluding 12b-1 distribution and/or service fees, interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees incurred in acquiring and disposing of portfolio securities and extraordinary expenses) do not exceed 1.00% and 0.95% of the average daily net assets of any class of shares of Global Infrastructure and Real Asset Income, respectively.

The Adviser may also voluntarily reimburse expenses from time to time in any of the Funds. Voluntary reimbursements may be terminated at any time at the Adviser’s discretion.

The Trust pays no compensation directly to those of its directors who are affiliated with the Adviser or to its officers, all of whom receive remuneration for their services to the Trust from the Adviser or its affiliates. The Board of Directors has adopted a deferred compensation plan for independent

 

Nuveen Investments     71   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

 

directors that enable directors to elect to defer receipt of all or a portion of the annual compensation they are entitled to receive from certain Nuveen-advised funds. Under the plan, deferred amounts are treated as though equal dollar amounts had been invested in shares of select Nuveen-advised funds.

During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, Nuveen Securities, LLC (the “Distributor”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nuveen, collected sales charges on purchases of Class A Shares, the majority of which were paid out as concessions to financial intermediaries as follows:

 

        Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
Sales charges collected (Unaudited)      $ 244,333         $ 306,796         $ 350,123   
Paid to financial intermediaries (Unaudited)        217,010           271,703           310,601   

The Distributor also received 12b-1 service fees on Class A Shares, substantially all of which were paid to compensate financial intermediaries for providing services to shareholders relating to their investments.

During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, the Distributor compensated financial intermediaries directly with commission advances at the time of purchase as follows:

 

        Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
Commission advances (Unaudited)      $ 68,580         $ 225,211         $ 224,309   

To compensate for commissions advanced to financial intermediaries, all 12b-1 service and distribution fees collected on Class B Shares and C Shares during the first year following a purchase were retained by the Distributor. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, the Distributor retained such 12b-1 fees as follows:

 

        Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
12b-1 fees retained (Unaudited)      $ 44,153         $ 128,529         $ 207,728   

The remaining 12b-1 fees charged to the Funds were paid to compensate financial intermediaries for providing services to shareholders relating to their investments.

The Distributor also collected and retained CDSC on share redemptions during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, as follows:

 

        Global
Infrastructure
       Real Asset
Income
       Real Estate
Securities
 
CDSC retained (Unaudited)      $ 357         $ 13,645         $ 22,663   

8. Borrowing Arrangements

The Funds have an unsecured bank line of credit (“Unsecured Credit Line”) under which outstanding balances bear interest at a variable rate. On December 31, 2013, Global Infrastructure and Real Estate Securities utilized the Unsecured Credit Line at an annualized interest rate of 1.30% on their respective outstanding balances.

Outstanding balances are recognized as “Borrowings” on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Interest incurred on the outstanding balances is recognized as a component of “Other expenses” on the Statement of Operations.

9. Subsequent Events

During January 2014, a request was made by one shareholder of Global Infrastructure to redeem 15,012,475 shares of Class I for $154,668,334. This equated to approximately 26% of the Fund during the redemption period.

 

  72       Nuveen Investments


    

 

     

 

           
  Additional Fund Information            
             
    

 

    

Fund Manager

Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

 

Sub-Adviser

Nuveen Asset Management, LLC

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

 

Legal Counsel

Chapman and Cutler LLP

Chicago, IL 60603

  

Independent Registered
Public Accounting Firm

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Chicago, IL 60606

 

Custodian

U.S. Bank National Association

Milwaukee, WI 53202

 

State Street Bank & Trust Company

Boston, MA 02111

 

Transfer Agent and Shareholder Services

Boston Financial

Data Services, Inc.

Nuveen Investor Services

P.O. Box 8530

Boston, MA 02266-8530

(800) 257-8787

     

 

 

              
  Distribution Information: Each Fund hereby designates its percentage of dividends paid from net ordinary income as dividends qualifying for the 70% dividends received deduction (“DRD”) for corporations and its percentage as qualified dividend income (“QDI”) for individuals under Section 1 (h)(11) of the Internal Revenue Code as shown in the accompanying table. The actual qualified dividend income distributions will be reported to shareholders on Form 1099-DIV which will be sent to shareholders shortly after calendar year end.   

 

        Nuveen Global
Infrastructure Fund
       Nuveen Real
Asset Income Fund
       Nuveen Real
Estate Securities Fund
 
% QDI        40.00        0.00        0.00
% DRD        14.00        0.00        0.00
             

 

  Foreign Taxes: Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund paid qualifying foreign taxes of $962,685 and earned $9,055,573 foreign source income during the calendar year ended December 31, 2013. Pursuant to Section 853 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund hereby designates $0.02 per share as foreign taxes paid and $0.14 per share as income earned from foreign sources for the calendar year ended December 31, 2013. The actual foreign tax credit distribution will be reported to shareholders on Form 1099-DIV which will be sent to shareholders shortly after calendar year end.   

 

              
  Quarterly Form N-Q Portfolio of Investments Information: Each Fund is required to file its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. You may obtain this information directly from the SEC. Visit the SEC on-line at http://www.sec.gov or in person at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Call the SEC toll-free at (800) SEC -0330 for room hours and operation.   
             

 

  Nuveen Funds’ Proxy Voting Information: You may obtain (i) information regarding how each fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities held during the most recent twelve-month period ended June 30, without charge, upon request, by calling Nuveen Investments toll-free at (800) 257-8787 or on Nuveen’s website at www.nuveen.com and (ii) a description of the policies and procedures that each fund used to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities without charge, upon request, by calling Nuveen Investments toll-free at (800) 257-8787. You may also obtain this information directly from the SEC. Visit the SEC on-line at http://www.sec.gov.   

 

              
  The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) provides a Public Disclosure Program which supplies certain information regarding the disciplinary history of FINRA members and their associated persons in response to either telephone inquiries at (800) 289-9999 or written inquiries at www.finra.org. FINRA also provides an investor brochure that includes information describing the Public Disclosure Program.   

 

Nuveen Investments     73   


Glossary of Terms Used in this Report

 

 

Average Annual Total Return: This is a commonly used method to express an investment’s performance over a particular, usually multi-year time period. It expresses the return that would have been necessary each year to equal the investment’s actual cumulative performance (including change in NAV or offer price and reinvested dividends and capital gains distributions, if any) over the time period being considered.

Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index: An index that covers the universe of fixed-rate, non-investment-grade corporate debt of issuers in non-emerging market countries. Eurobonds and debt issues from countries designated as emerging markets are excluded. Index returns assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges or management fees.

BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. Preferred Fixed Rate Index: An index that consists of fixed rate U.S. dollar denominated preferred securities and fixed-to-floating rate securities that are callable prior to the floating rate period and are at least one year from the start of the floating rate period. Index returns assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges or management fees.

BofA Merrill Lynch REIT Preferred Stock Index: An unmanaged index of investment grade Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) preferred shares with a deal size in excess of $100 million, weighted by capitalization and considered representative of investment grade preferred real estate stock performance. Index returns assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges or management fees.

Dow Jones Industrial Average: A price-weighted index of the 30 largest, most widely held stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The index returns assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges or management fees.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country/region in a given year, equal to total consumer, investment and government spending, plus the value of exports, minus the value of imports.

Lipper Global Flexible Portfolio Funds Classification Average: Represents the average annualized returns for all reporting funds in the Lipper Global Flexible Portfolio Funds Classification. Lipper returns account for the effects of management fees and assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges.

Lipper Real Estate Funds Classification Average: Represents the average annualized returns for all reporting funds in the Lipper Real Estate Funds Classification. Lipper returns account for the effects of management fees and assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges.

Lipper Specialty/Miscellaneous Funds Classification Average: Represents the average annualized returns for all reporting funds in the Lipper Specialty/Miscellaneous Funds Classification. Lipper returns account for the effects of management fees and assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charge.

MSCI U.S. REIT Index: An unmanaged index that tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts. Index returns assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges or management fees.

Net Asset Value (NAV) Per Share: A fund’s Net Assets is equal to its total assets (securities, cash and accrued earnings) less its total liabilities. For funds with multiple classes, Net Assets are determined separately for each share class. NAV per share is equal to the fund’s (or share class’) Net Assets divided by its number of shares outstanding.

 

  74       Nuveen Investments


Real Asset Income Blend: A custom index comprised of a weighting of 33% Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global Infrastructure Index, 12% BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. Preferred Fixed Rate Index, 15% MSCI U.S. REIT Index, 20% BofA Merrill Lynch REIT Preferred Stock Index and 20% Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index. Index returns assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges or management fees.

Russell 2000® Index: An index that measures the performance of the small-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. The Russell 2000® Index is a subset of the Russell 3000® Index representing approximately 10% of the total market capitalization of that index. It includes approximately 2,000 of the smallest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. The index returns assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges or management fees.

S&P Global Infrastructure Index: An index that provides liquid and tradable exposure to 75 companies from around the world that represent the listed infrastructure universe. To create diversified exposure across the global listed infrastructure market, the index has balanced weights across three distinct infrastructure clusters: utilities, transportation, and energy. Index returns assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not reflect any applicable sales charges or management fees.

S&P 500® Index: An unmanaged index generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. Index returns assume reinvestment of distributions, but do not include the effects of any applicable sales charges or management fees.

Tax Equalization: The practice of treating a portion of the distribution made to a redeeming shareholder, which represents his proportionate part of undistributed net investment income and capital gain as a distribution for tax purposes. Such amounts are referred to as the equalization debits (or payments) and will be considered a distribution to the shareholder of net investment income and capital gain for calculation of the Fund’s dividends paid deduction.

 

Nuveen Investments     75   


Annual Investment Management Agreement Approval Process (Unaudited)

 

The Board of Directors (each, a “Board” and each Director, a “Board Member”) of the Funds, including the Board Members who are not parties to the Funds’ advisory or sub-advisory agreements or “interested persons” of any such parties (the “Independent Board Members”), is responsible for approving the advisory agreements (each, an “Investment Management Agreement”) between each Fund and Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC (the “Advisor”) and the sub-advisory agreements (each, a “Sub-Advisory Agreement”) between the Advisor and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC (the “Sub-Advisor”) (the Investment Management Agreements and the Sub-Advisory Agreements are referred to collectively as the “Advisory Agreements”) and their periodic continuation. Pursuant to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), the Board is required to consider the continuation of the Advisory Agreements on an annual basis. Accordingly, at an in-person meeting held on May 20-22, 2013 (the “May Meeting”), the Board, including a majority of the Independent Board Members, considered and approved the continuation of the Advisory Agreements for the Funds for an additional one-year period.

In preparation for its considerations at the May Meeting, the Board requested and received extensive materials prepared in connection with the review of the Advisory Agreements. The materials provided a broad range of information regarding the Funds, the Advisor and the Sub-Advisor (the Advisor and the Sub-Advisor are collectively, the “Fund Advisers” and each, a “Fund Adviser”). As described in more detail below, the information provided included, among other things, a review of Fund performance, including Fund investment performance assessments against peer groups and appropriate benchmarks; a comparison of Fund fees and expenses relative to peers; a description and assessment of shareholder service levels for the Funds; a summary of the performance of certain service providers; a review of product initiatives and shareholder communications; and an analysis of the Advisor’s profitability with comparisons to comparable peers in the managed fund business. As part of its annual review, the Board also held a separate meeting on April 17-18, 2013, to review the Funds’ investment performance and consider an analysis provided by the Advisor of the Sub-Advisor which generally evaluated the Sub-Advisor’s investment team, investment mandate, organizational structure and history, investment philosophy and process, performance of the applicable Fund, and significant changes to the foregoing. As a result of its review of the materials and discussions, the Board presented the Advisor with questions and the Advisor responded.

The materials and information prepared in connection with the annual review of the Advisory Agreements supplement the information and analysis provided to the Board during the year. In this regard, throughout the year, the Board, acting directly or through its committees, regularly reviews the performance and various services provided by the Advisor and the Sub-Advisor. The Board meets at least quarterly as well as at other times as the need arises. At its quarterly meetings, the Board reviews reports by the Advisor regarding, among other things, fund performance, fund expenses, the performance of the investment teams, and compliance, regulatory and risk management matters. In addition to regular reports, the Advisor provides special reports to the Board or a committee thereof from time to time to enhance the Board’s understanding of various topics that impact some or all the Nuveen funds (such as accounting and financial statement presentations of the various forms of leverage that may be used by a closed-end fund or an update on the valuation policies and procedures), to update the Board on regulatory developments impacting the investment company industry or to update the Board on the business plans or other matters impacting the Advisor. The Board also meets with key investment personnel managing the fund portfolios during the year. In October 2011, the Board also created two standing committees (the Open-End Fund Committee and the Closed-End Fund Committee) to assist the full Board in monitoring and gaining a deeper insight into the distinctive business practices of open-end and closed-end funds. These Committees meet prior to each quarterly Board meeting, and the Advisor provides presentations to these Committees permitting them to delve further into specific matters or initiatives impacting the respective product line.

In addition, the Board continues its program of seeking to have the Board Members or a subset thereof visit each sub-advisor to the Nuveen funds at least once over a multiple year rotation, meeting with key investment and business personnel. In this regard, the Independent Board Members visited certain of the Sub-Advisor’s investment teams in Minneapolis in September 2012, and the Sub-Advisor’s municipal team in November 2012. In addition, the ad hoc Securities Lending Committee of the Board met with certain service providers and the Audit Committee of the Board made a site visit to three pricing service providers.

The Board considers the information provided and knowledge gained at these meetings and visits during the year when performing its annual review of the Advisory Agreements. The Independent Board Members also are assisted throughout the process by independent legal counsel. Counsel provided materials describing applicable law and the duties of directors or trustees in reviewing advisory contracts. During the course of the year and during their deliberations regarding the review of advisory contracts, the Independent Board Members met with independent legal counsel in executive sessions without management present. In addition, it is important to recognize that the management arrangements for the Nuveen funds are the result of many years of review and discussion between the Independent Board Members and fund management and that the Board Members’ conclusions may be based, in part, on their consideration of fee arrangements and other factors developed in previous years.

 

  76       Nuveen Investments


The Board considered all factors it believed relevant with respect to each Fund, including among other factors: (a) the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the Fund Advisers, (b) the investment performance of the Fund and Fund Advisers, (c) the advisory fees and costs of the services to be provided to the Fund and the profitability of the Fund Advisers, (d) the extent of any economies of scale, (e) any benefits derived by the Fund Advisers from the relationship with the Fund and (f) other factors. Each Board Member may have accorded different weight to the various factors in reaching his or her conclusions with respect to a Fund’s Advisory Agreements. The Independent Board Members did not identify any single factor as all important or controlling. The Independent Board Members’ considerations were instead based on a comprehensive consideration of all the information presented. The principal factors considered by the Board and its conclusions are described below.

A. Nature, Extent and Quality of Services

In considering renewal of the Advisory Agreements, the Independent Board Members considered the nature, extent and quality of the Fund Adviser’s services, including advisory services and the resulting Fund performance and administrative services. The Independent Board Members further considered the overall reputation and capabilities of the Advisor and its affiliates, the commitment of the Advisor to provide high quality service to the Funds, their overall confidence in the capability and integrity of the Advisor and its staff and the Advisor’s responsiveness to questions and concerns raised by them. The Independent Board Members reviewed materials outlining, among other things, the Fund Adviser’s organization and business; the types of services that the Fund Adviser or its affiliates provide to the Funds; the performance record of the applicable Fund (as described in further detail below); and any applicable initiatives Nuveen had taken for the open-end fund product line.

In considering advisory services, the Board recognized that the Advisor provides various oversight, administrative, compliance and other services for the Funds and the Sub-Advisor generally provides the portfolio investment management services to the Funds. In reviewing the portfolio management services provided to each Fund, the Board reviewed the materials provided by the Nuveen Investment Services Oversight Team analyzing, among other things, the Sub-Advisor’s investment team and changes thereto, organization and history, assets under management, the investment team’s philosophy and strategies in managing the Fund, developments affecting the Sub-Advisor or Fund and Fund performance. The Independent Board Members also reviewed portfolio manager compensation arrangements to evaluate each Fund Adviser’s ability to attract and retain high quality investment personnel, preserve stability, and reward performance but not provide an inappropriate incentive to take undue risks. In addition, the Board considered the Advisor’s execution of its oversight responsibilities over the Sub-Advisor. Given the importance of compliance, the Independent Board Members also considered Nuveen’s compliance program, including the report of the chief compliance officer regarding the Funds’ compliance policies and procedures; the resources dedicated to compliance; and the record of compliance with the policies and procedures. Given the Advisor’s emphasis on business risk, the Board also appointed an Independent Board Member as a point person to review and keep the Board apprised of developments in this area during the year.

In addition to advisory services, the Board considered the quality and extent of administrative and other non-investment advisory services the Advisor and its affiliates provide to the Funds, including product management, investment services (such as oversight of investment policies and procedures, risk management, and pricing), fund administration, oversight of service providers, shareholder services and communications, administration of Board relations, regulatory and portfolio compliance and legal support. The Board further recognized Nuveen’s additional investments in personnel, including in compliance and risk management.

In reviewing the services provided, the Board considered the new services and service enhancements that the Advisor has implemented since the various advisory agreements were last reviewed. In reviewing the activities of 2012, the Board recognized the Advisor’s focus on product rationalization for both closed-end and open-end funds during the year, consolidating certain Nuveen funds through mergers that were designed to improve efficiencies and economies of scale for shareholders, repositioning various Nuveen funds through updates in their investment policies and guidelines with the expectation of bringing greater value to shareholders, and liquidating certain Nuveen funds. The Board recognized the Advisor’s significant investment in technology initiatives to, among other things, create a central repository for fund and other Nuveen product data, develop a group within the Advisor designed to handle and analyze fund performance data, and implement a data system to support the risk oversight group. The Board also recognized the enhancements in the valuation group within the Advisor, including upgrading the team and process and automating certain basic systems, and in the compliance group with the addition of personnel, particularly within the testing group. With the advent of the Open-End Fund Committee and Closed-End Fund Committee, the Board also noted the enhanced support and comprehensive in-depth presentations provided by the Advisor to these committees.

In addition to the foregoing actions, the Board also considered other initiatives related to the open-end Nuveen funds including, among other things, the development of a comprehensive strategic plan and the addition of members to the product strategy team; the commencement of various new funds; the removal of redemption fees for certain funds; the establishment of a working group to enhance the Advisor’s oversight of the disclosures pertaining to Nuveen’s products and services; the acceleration of monthly holdings disclosure for certain funds; and the development of a new share class for certain funds.

 

Nuveen Investments     77   


Annual Investment Management Agreement Approval Process (Unaudited) (continued)

 

Based on their review, the Independent Board Members found that, overall, the nature, extent and quality of services provided to the respective Funds under each applicable Advisory Agreement were satisfactory.

B. The Investment Performance of the Funds and Fund Advisers

The Board, including the Independent Board Members, considered the performance history of each Fund over various time periods. The Board reviewed reports, including an analysis of the Funds’ performance and the applicable investment team. In general, in considering a fund’s performance, the Board recognized that a fund’s performance can be reviewed through various measures including the fund’s absolute return, the fund’s return compared to the performance of other peer funds, and the fund’s performance compared to its respective benchmark. Accordingly, the Board reviewed, among other things, each Fund’s historic investment performance as well as information comparing the Fund’s performance information with that of other funds (the “Performance Peer Group”) and with recognized and/or customized benchmarks (i.e., benchmarks derived from multiple recognized benchmarks) for the quarter, one-, three- and five-year periods ending December 31, 2012 as well as performance information reflecting the first quarter of 2013 (or for such shorter periods available for the Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund (the “Real Asset Income Fund”), which did not exist for part of the foregoing time frame). This information supplemented the fund performance information provided to the Board at each of its quarterly meetings.

In evaluating performance, the Board recognized several factors that may impact the performance data as well as the consideration given to particular performance data. The Board recognized that the performance data reflects a snapshot of time, in this case as of the end of the most recent calendar year or quarter. The Board noted that selecting a different performance period could derive significantly different results. Further, the Board recognized that it is possible that long-term performance can be adversely affected by even one period of significant underperformance so that a single investment decision or theme has the ability to disproportionately affect long-term performance. The Independent Board Members also noted that the investment experience of a particular shareholder in the Nuveen funds will vary depending on when such shareholder invests in the applicable fund, the class held (if multiple classes are offered in a fund) and the performance of the fund (or respective class) during that shareholder’s investment period.

With respect to the comparative performance information, the Board recognized that the usefulness of comparative performance data as a frame of reference to measure a fund’s performance may be limited because the Performance Peer Group, among other things, does not adequately reflect the objectives and strategies of the fund, has a different investable universe, or the composition of the peer set may be limited in size or number as well as other factors. In this regard, the Board noted that the Advisor classified, in relevant part, the Performance Peer Groups of certain funds (including the Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund (the “Global Infrastructure Fund”) as having significant differences from the funds but to still be somewhat relevant, while the Performance Peer Groups of other funds (including the Real Asset Income Fund) were classified as having such significant differences as to be irrelevant. Accordingly, while the Board is cognizant of the relative performance of a fund’s peer set and/or benchmark(s), the Board evaluated fund performance in light of the respective fund’s investment objectives, investment parameters and guidelines and considered that the variations between the objectives and investment parameters or guidelines of the funds with their peers and/or benchmarks result in differences in performance results. The Board also noted that open-end funds offer multiple classes and the performance of the various classes of a fund should be substantially similar on a relative basis because all of the classes are invested in the same portfolio of securities and that differences in performance among classes could be principally attributed to the variations in distribution and servicing expenses of each class. In addition, with respect to any Nuveen funds for which the Board has identified performance concerns, the Board monitors such funds closely until performance improves, discusses with the Advisor the reasons for such results, considers those steps necessary or appropriate to address such issues, and reviews the results of any efforts undertaken.

In considering the performance data for the Funds, the Independent Board Members noted that the Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund and the Global Infrastructure Fund had demonstrated generally favorable performance in comparison to peers, performing in the first or second quartile over various periods. In addition, the Independent Board Members noted that the Real Asset Income Fund was relatively new with a shorter performance history available, thereby limiting the ability to make a meaningful assessment of performance; they observed, however, that such Fund outperformed its benchmark for the one-year period.

Based on their review, the Independent Board Members determined that each Fund’s investment performance had been satisfactory.

C. Fees, Expenses and Profitability

1. Fees and Expenses

The Board evaluated the management fees and expenses of each Fund reviewing, among other things, such Fund’s gross management fees, net management fees and net expense ratios in absolute terms as well as compared to the fees and expenses of a comparable universe of funds provided by an independent fund data provider (the “Peer Universe”) and to a more focused subset of funds in the Peer Universe (the “Peer Group”) and any expense limitations.

The Independent Board Members further reviewed the methodology regarding the construction of the applicable Peer Universe and Peer Group. In reviewing the comparisons of fee and expense information, the Independent Board Members took into account that in certain instances various

 

  78       Nuveen Investments


factors such as: the limited size and particular composition of the Peer Universe or Peer Group (including the inclusion of other Nuveen funds in the peer set); expense anomalies; changes in the funds comprising the Peer Universe or Peer Group from year to year; levels of reimbursement or fee waivers; the timing of information used; and differences in the states reflected in the Peer Universe or Peer Group may impact the comparative data, thereby limiting somewhat the ability to make a meaningful comparison with peers.

In reviewing the fee schedule for a Fund, the Independent Board Members also considered the fund-level and complex-wide breakpoint schedules (described in further detail below) and any fee waivers and reimbursements provided by Nuveen. In reviewing fees and expenses, the Board considered the expenses and fees to be higher if they were over 10 basis points higher, slightly higher if they were approximately 6 to 10 basis points higher, in line if they were within approximately 5 basis points higher than the peer average and below if they were below the peer average of the Peer Group. In reviewing the reports, the Board noted that the majority of the Nuveen funds were at, close to or below their Peer Group or Peer Universe (if no separate Peer Group) average based on the net total expense ratio.

The Independent Board Members observed that the Global Infrastructure Fund and the Real Asset Income Fund had net management fees and net expense ratios (including fee waivers and expense reimbursements) below their peer averages. In addition, they noted that the Real Estate Securities Fund had a slightly higher net management fee than its peer average, but a net expense ratio in line with its peer average.

Based on their review of the fee and expense information provided, the Independent Board Members determined that each Fund’s management fees were reasonable in light of the nature, extent and quality of services provided to the Fund.

2. Comparisons with the Fees of Other Clients

The Board recognized that all Nuveen funds have a sub-advisor (which, in the case of the Funds, is an affiliated sub-advisor), and therefore, the overall fund management fee can be divided into two components, the fee retained by the Advisor and the fee paid to the sub-advisor. In general terms, the fee to the Advisor reflects the administrative services it provides to support the funds, and while some administrative services may occur at the sub-advisor level, the fee generally reflects the portfolio management services provided by the sub-advisor. The Independent Board Members reviewed information regarding the nature of services provided by the Advisor, including through the Sub-Advisor, and the range of fees and average fee the Sub-Advisor assessed for such services to other clients. Such other clients include separately managed accounts (both retail and institutional accounts), foreign investment funds offered by Nuveen and funds that are not offered by Nuveen but are sub-advised by one of Nuveen’s investment management teams. In evaluating the comparisons of fees, the Independent Board Members noted that the fee rates charged to the Funds and other clients vary, among other things, because of the different services involved and the additional regulatory and compliance requirements associated with registered investment companies, such as the Funds. Accordingly, the Independent Board Members considered the differences in the product types, including, but not limited to, the services provided, the structure and operations, product distribution and costs thereof, portfolio investment policies, investor profiles, account sizes and regulatory requirements. The Independent Board Members noted, in particular, that the range of services provided to the Funds (as discussed above) is much more extensive than that provided to separately managed accounts. Many of the additional administrative services provided by the Advisor are not required for institutional clients. The Independent Board Members further noted that the management fee rates of the foreign funds advised by the Advisor may vary due to, among other things, differences in the client base, governing bodies, operational complexities and services covered by the management fee. Given the inherent differences in the various products, particularly the extensive services provided to the Funds, the Independent Board Members believe such facts justify the different levels of fees.

3. Profitability of Fund Advisers

In conjunction with their review of fees, the Independent Board Members also considered the profitability of Nuveen for its advisory activities and its financial condition. The Independent Board Members reviewed the revenues and expenses of Nuveen’s advisory activities for the last two calendar years, the allocation methodology used in preparing the profitability data and an analysis of the key drivers behind the changes in revenues and expenses that impacted profitability in 2012. The Independent Board Members noted this information supplemented the profitability information requested and received during the year to help keep them apprised of developments affecting profitability (such as changes in fee waivers and expense reimbursement commitments). In this regard, the Independent Board Members noted that they have an Independent Board Member serve as a point person to review and keep them apprised of changes to the profitability analysis and/or methodologies during the year. The Independent Board Members also considered Nuveen’s revenues for advisory activities, expenses, and profit margin compared to that of various unaffiliated management firms with comparable assets under management (based on asset size and asset composition).

In reviewing profitability, the Independent Board Members recognized the Advisor’s continued investment in its business to enhance its services, including capital improvements to investment technology, updated compliance systems, and additional personnel. In addition, in evaluating profitability, the Independent Board Members also recognized the subjective nature of determining profitability which may be affected by numerous factors including the allocation of expenses and that various allocation methodologies may each be reasonable but yield different results.

 

Nuveen Investments     79   


Annual Investment Management Agreement Approval Process (Unaudited) (continued)

 

Further, the Independent Board Members recognized the difficulties in making comparisons as the profitability of other advisers generally is not publicly available and the profitability information that is available for certain advisers or management firms may not be representative of the industry and may be affected by, among other things, the adviser’s particular business mix, capital costs, types of funds managed and expense allocations. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Independent Board Members reviewed Nuveen’s methodology and assumptions for allocating expenses across product lines to determine profitability. Based on their review, the Independent Board Members concluded that the Advisor’s level of profitability for its advisory activities was reasonable in light of the services provided.

With respect to sub-advisors affiliated with Nuveen, including the Sub-Advisor, the Independent Board Members reviewed the sub-advisor’s revenues, expenses and profitability margins (pre- and post-tax) for its advisory activities and the methodology used for allocating expenses among the internal sub-advisors. Based on their review, the Independent Board Members were satisfied that the Sub-Advisor’s level of profitability was reasonable in light of the services provided.

In evaluating the reasonableness of the compensation, the Independent Board Members also considered other amounts paid to a Fund Adviser by the Funds as well as indirect benefits (such as soft dollar arrangements), if any, the Fund Adviser and its affiliates receive, or are expected to receive, that are directly attributable to the management of the Funds. See Section E below for additional information on indirect benefits a Fund Adviser may receive as a result of its relationship with the Funds. Based on their review of the overall fee arrangements of each Fund, the Independent Board Members determined that the advisory fees and expenses of the respective Fund were reasonable.

D. Economies of Scale and Whether Fee Levels Reflect These Economies of Scale

With respect to economies of scale, the Independent Board Members have recognized the potential benefits resulting from the costs of a fund being spread over a larger asset base, although economies of scale are difficult to measure and predict with precision, particularly on a fund-by-fund basis. One method to help ensure the shareholders share in these benefits is to include breakpoints in the advisory fee schedule. Generally, management fees for funds in the Nuveen complex are comprised of a fund-level component and a complex-level component, subject to certain exceptions. Accordingly, the Independent Board Members reviewed and considered the applicable fund-level breakpoints in the advisory fee schedules that reduce advisory fees as asset levels increase.

In addition to fund-level advisory fee breakpoints, the Board also considered the Funds’ complex-wide fee arrangement. Pursuant to the complex-wide fee arrangement, the fees of the funds in the Nuveen complex are generally reduced as the assets in the fund complex reach certain levels. The complex-wide fee arrangement seeks to provide the benefits of economies of scale to fund shareholders when total fund complex assets increase, even if assets of a particular fund are unchanged or have decreased. The approach reflects the notion that some of Nuveen’s costs are attributable to services provided to all its funds in the complex and therefore all funds benefit if these costs are spread over a larger asset base. In addition, with the acquisition of the funds previously advised by FAF Advisors, Inc. at the end of 2010, the Board noted that a portion of such funds’ assets at the time of acquisition were deemed eligible to be included in the complex-wide fee calculation in order to deliver fee savings to shareholders in the combined complex and such funds were subject to differing complex-level fee rates.

Based on their review, the Independent Board Members concluded that the breakpoint schedules and complex-wide fee arrangement were acceptable and reflect economies of scale to be shared with shareholders when assets under management increase.

E. Indirect Benefits

In evaluating fees, the Independent Board Members received and considered information regarding potential “fall out” or ancillary benefits the respective Fund Adviser or its affiliates may receive as a result of its relationship with each Fund. In this regard, the Independent Board Members considered, among other things, any sales charges, distribution fees and shareholder services fees received and retained by the Funds’ principal underwriter, an affiliate of the Advisor, which includes fees received pursuant to any 12b-1 plan. The Independent Board Members, therefore, considered the 12b-1 fees retained by Nuveen during the last calendar year.

In addition to the above, the Independent Board Members considered whether the Fund Advisers received any benefits from soft dollar arrangements whereby a portion of the commissions paid by a Fund for brokerage may be used to acquire research that may be useful to the Fund Adviser in managing the assets of the Funds and other clients. The Funds’ portfolio transactions are determined by the Sub-Advisor. Accordingly, the Independent Board Members considered that the Sub-Advisor may benefit from its soft dollar arrangements pursuant to which it receives research from brokers that execute the Funds’ portfolio transactions. With respect to any fixed income securities, however, the Board recognized that such securities generally trade on a principal basis that does not generate soft dollar credits. Nevertheless, the Sub-Advisor may also engage in soft dollar arrangements on behalf of other clients, and the Funds as well as the Sub-Advisor may benefit from the research or other services received. Similarly, the Board recognized that the research received pursuant to soft dollar arrangements by the Sub-Advisor may also benefit a Fund and shareholders to the extent the research enhances the ability of the Sub-Advisor to manage the Fund. The Independent Board Members noted that the Sub-Advisor’s profitability may be somewhat lower if it did not receive the research services pursuant to the soft dollar arrangements and had to acquire such services directly.

 

  80       Nuveen Investments


Based on their review, the Independent Board Members concluded that any indirect benefits received by a Fund Adviser as a result of its relationship with the Funds were reasonable and within acceptable parameters.

F. Other Considerations

The Independent Board Members did not identify any single factor discussed previously as all-important or controlling. The Board Members, including the Independent Board Members, unanimously concluded that the terms of each Advisory Agreement are fair and reasonable, that the respective Fund Adviser’s fees are reasonable in light of the services provided to each Fund and that the Advisory Agreements be renewed.

 

Nuveen Investments     81   


Directors and Officers (Unaudited)

 

 

The management of the Funds, including general supervision of the duties performed for the Funds by the Adviser, is the responsibility of the Board of Directors of the Funds. The number of directors of the Funds is currently set at twelve. None of the directors who are not “interested” persons of the Funds (referred to herein as “independent directors”) has ever been a director or employee of, or consultant to, Nuveen or its affiliates. The names and business addresses of the directors and officers of the Funds, their principal occupations and other affiliations during the past five years, the number of portfolios each oversees and other directorships they hold are set forth below.

The Funds’ Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) includes more information about the directors. To request a free copy, call Nuveen Investments at (800) 257-8787 or visit the Funds’ website at www.nuveen.com.

 

Name,

Year of Birth

& Address

 

Position(s)

Held with

the Funds

 

Year First

Elected or

Appointed (1)

 

Principal Occupation(s)

Including other Directorships

During Past 5 Years

 

Number of

Portfolios in

Fund Complex

Overseen by

Director

     
Independent Directors:    

William J. Schneider

1944

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Chairman and Director   1996   Chairman of Miller-Valentine Partners Ltd., a real estate investment company; formerly, Senior Partner and Chief Operating Officer (retired 2004) of Miller-Valentine Group; owner in several other Miller-Valentine entities; Board Member of Mid-America Health System, Tech Town, Inc., a not-for-profit community development company, and WDPR Public Radio Station; formerly, member, Business Advisory Council, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank and University of Dayton Business School Advisory Council.   206

Robert P. Bremner

1940

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   1996   Private Investor and Management Consultant; Treasurer and Director, Humanities Council of Washington, D.C.; Board Member, Independent Directors Council affiliated with the Investment Company Institute.   206

Jack B. Evans

1948

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   1999   President, The Hall-Perrine Foundation, a private philanthropic corporation (since 1996); Chairman, United Fire Group, a publicly held company; formerly, member and President Pro Tem of the Board of Regents for the State of Iowa University System; Director, Source Media Group; Life Trustee of Coe College; formerly, Director, Alliant Energy; formerly, Director, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago; formerly, President and Chief Operating Officer, SCI Financial Group, Inc., a regional financial services firm.   206

William C. Hunter

1948

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   2004   Dean Emeritus (since June 30, 2012), formerly, Dean, Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa (2006-2012); Director (since 2004) of Xerox Corporation; Director (since 2005), and President (since July 2012) Beta Gamma Sigma, Inc., The International Honor Society; Director of Wellmark, Inc. (since 2009); formerly, Dean and Distinguished Professor of Finance, School of Business at the University of Connecticut (2003-2006); previously, Senior Vice President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (1995-2003); formerly, Director (1997-2007), Credit Research Center at Georgetown University.   206

 

  82       Nuveen Investments


Name,

Year of Birth

& Address

 

Position(s)

Held with

the Funds

 

Year First

Elected or

Appointed (1)

 

Principal Occupation(s)

Including other Directorships

During Past 5 Years

 

Number of

Portfolios in

Fund Complex

Overseen by

Director

David J. Kundert

1942

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   2005   Formerly, Director, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company (2006-2013); retired (since 2004) as Chairman, JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management, President and CEO, Banc One Investment Advisors Corporation, and President, One Group Mutual Funds; prior thereto, Executive Vice President, Banc One Corporation and Chairman and CEO, Banc One Investment Management Group; Regent Emeritus, Member of Investment Committee, Luther College; member of the Wisconsin Bar Association; member of Board of Directors, Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens; member of Board of Directors and Chair of Investment Committee, Greater Milwaukee Foundation; member of the Board of Directors (Milwaukee), College Possible.   206

John K. Nelson

1962

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   2013   Senior external advisor to the financial services practice of Deloitte Consulting LLP (since 2012); Member of Board of Directors of Core12 LLC (since 2008), a private firm which develops branding, marketing and communications strategies for clients; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Marian University (since 2010 as trustee, 2011 as Chairman); Director of The Curran Center for Catholic American Studies (since 2009) and The President’s Council, Fordham University (since 2010); formerly, Chief Executive Officer of ABN AMRO N.V. North America, and Global Head of its Financial Markets Division (2007-2008); prior senior positions held at ABN AMRO include Corporate Executive Vice President and Head of Global Markets—the Americas (2006-2007), CEO of Wholesale Banking—North America and Global Head of Foreign Exchange and Futures Markets (2001-2006), and Regional Commercial Treasurer and Senior Vice President Trading—North America (1996-2001); formerly, Trustee at St. Edmund Preparatory School in New York City.   206

Judith M. Stockdale

1947

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   1997   Formerly, Executive Director (1994-2012), Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (since 1994); prior thereto, Executive Director, Great Lakes Protection Fund (1990-1994).   206

Carole E. Stone

1947

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   2007   Director, Chicago Board Options Exchange (since 2006), C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated (since 2009) Director, CBOE Holdings, Inc. (since 2010); formerly, Commissioner, New York State Commission on Public Authority Reform (2005-2010); formerly, Chair, New York Racing Association Oversight Board (2005-2007).   206

Virginia L. Stringer

1944

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   2011   Board Member, Mutual Fund Directors Forum; former governance consultant and non-profit board member; former Owner and President, Strategic Management Resources, Inc., a management consulting firm; former Member, Governing Board, Investment Company Institute’s Independent Directors Council; previously, held several executive positions in general management, marketing and human resources at IBM and The Pillsbury Company; Independent Director, First American Fund Complex (1987-2010) and Chair (1997-2010).   206

 

Nuveen Investments     83   


Directors and Officers (Unaudited) (continued)

 

Name,

Year of Birth

& Address

 

Position(s)

Held with

the Funds

 

Year First

Elected or

Appointed (1)

 

Principal Occupation(s)

Including other Directorships

During Past 5 Years

 

Number of

Portfolios in

Fund Complex

Overseen by

Director

Terence J. Toth

1959

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   2008   Managing Partner, Promus Capital (since 2008); Director, Fulcrum IT Service LLC (since 2010), Quality Control Corporation (since 2012) and LogicMark LLC (since 2012); formerly, Director, Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc. (2008-2013); formerly, CEO and President, Northern Trust Global Investments (2004-2007); Executive Vice President, Quantitative Management & Securities Lending (2000-2004); prior thereto, various positions with Northern Trust Company (since 1994); member: Chicago Fellowship Board (since 2005), Catalyst Schools of Chicago Board (since 2008) and Mather Foundation Board (since 2012), and a member of its investment committee; formerly, Member, Northern Trust Mutual Funds Board (2005-2007), Northern Trust Global Investments Board (2004-2007), Northern Trust Japan Board (2004-2007), Northern Trust Securities Inc. Board (2003-2007) and Northern Trust Hong Kong Board (1997-2004).   206
     
Interested Board Members:    

William Adams IV(2)

1955

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   2013   Senior Executive Vice President, Global Structured Products (since 2010); Co-President of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC (since 2011); President (since 2011), formerly, Managing Director (2010-2011) of Nuveen Commodities Asset Management, LLC; Board Member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and of Gilda’s Club Chicago; formerly, Executive Vice President, U.S. Structured Products, of Nuveen Investments, Inc. (1999-2010).   132

Thomas S. Schreier, Jr.(2)

1962

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Director   2013   Vice Chairman, Wealth Management of Nuveen Investments, Inc. (since 2011); Co-President of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC; Chairman of Nuveen Asset Management, LLC (since 2011); Co-Chief Executive Officer of Nuveen Securities, LLC (since 2011); Member of Board of Governors and Chairman’s Council of the Investment Company Institute; formerly, Chief Executive Officer (2000-2010) and Chief Investment Officer (2007-2010) of FAF Advisors, Inc.; formerly, President of First American Funds (2001-2010).   132

 

  84       Nuveen Investments


Name,

Year of Birth

& Address

 

Position(s)

Held with

the Funds

 

Year First

Elected or

Appointed (2)

 

Principal Occupation(s)

During Past 5 Years

 

Number of

Portfolios in

Fund Complex

Overseen by

Director

     
Officers of the Funds:    

Gifford R. Zimmerman

1956

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Chief Administrative Officer   1988   Managing Director (since 2002), and Assistant Secretary of Nuveen Securities, LLC; Managing Director (since 2004) and Assistant Secretary (since 1994) of Nuveen Investments, Inc.; Managing Director (since 2002), Assistant Secretary (since 1997) and Co-General Counsel (since 2011) of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC; Managing Director, Assistant Secretary and Associate General Counsel of Nuveen Asset Management, LLC (since 2011); Managing Director, Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary of Symphony Asset Management LLC (since 2003); Vice President and Assistant Secretary of NWQ Investment Management Company, LLC (since 2002), Nuveen Investments Advisers Inc. (since 2002), Santa Barbara Asset Management, LLC (since 2006) and of Winslow Capital Management, LLC, (since 2010); Vice President and Assistant Secretary (since 2013), formerly, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Compliance Officer (2006-2013) of Nuveen Commodities Asset Management, LLC; Chartered Financial Analyst.   206

Margo L. Cook

1964

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Vice President   2009   Executive Vice President (since 2008) of Nuveen Investments, Inc. and of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC (since 2011); Managing Director – Investment Services of Nuveen Commodities Asset Management, LLC (since August 2011), previously, Head of Institutional Asset Management (2007-2008) of Bear Stearns Asset Management; Head of Institutional Asset Management (1986-2007) of Bank of NY Mellon; Chartered Financial Analyst.   206

Lorna C. Ferguson

1945

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Vice President   1998  

Managing Director (since 2005) of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC and Nuveen Securities, LLC (since 2004).

  206

Stephen D. Foy

1954

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Vice President and Controller   1998   Senior Vice President (2010-2011), formerly, Vice President (2005-2010) and Funds Controller of Nuveen Securities, LLC; Senior Vice President (since 2013), formerly, Vice President of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC; Chief Financial Officer of Nuveen Commodities Asset Management, LLC (since 2010); Certified Public Accountant.   206

Scott S. Grace

1970

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Vice President and Treasurer   2009   Managing Director, Corporate Finance & Development, Treasurer (since 2009) of Nuveen Securities, LLC; Managing Director and Treasurer (since 2009) of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC, Nuveen Investments Advisers, Inc., Nuveen Investments Holdings Inc. and (since 2011) Nuveen Asset Management, LLC; Vice President and Treasurer of NWQ Investment Management Company, LLC, Tradewinds Global Investors, LLC, Symphony Asset Management LLC and Winslow Capital Management, LLC.; Vice President of Santa Barbara Asset Management, LLC; formerly, Treasurer (2006-2009), Senior Vice President (2008-2009), previously, Vice President (2006-2008) of Janus Capital Group, Inc.; formerly, Senior Associate in Morgan Stanley’s Global Financial Services Group (2000-2003); Chartered Accountant Designation.   206

 

Nuveen Investments     85   


Directors and Officers (Unaudited) (continued)

 

Name,

Year of Birth

& Address

 

Position(s)

Held with

the Funds

 

Year First

Elected or

Appointed (2)

 

Principal Occupation(s)

During Past 5 Years

 

Number of

Portfolios in

Fund Complex

Overseen by

Director

Walter M. Kelly

1970

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President   2003   Senior Vice President (since 2008) of Nuveen Investments Holdings, Inc.   206

Tina M. Lazar

1961

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Vice President   2002   Senior Vice President of Nuveen Investment Holdings, Inc.   206

Kevin J. McCarthy

1966

333 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Vice President and Secretary   2007   Managing Director and Assistant Secretary (since 2008), Nuveen Securities, LLC; Managing Director (since 2008), Assistant Secretary (since 2007) and Co-General Counsel (since 2011) of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC; Managing Director, Assistant Secretary and Associate General Counsel (since 2011) of Nuveen Asset Management, LLC; Managing Director (since 2008), and Assistant Secretary, Nuveen Investment Holdings, Inc.; Vice President (since 2007) and Assistant Secretary of Nuveen Investments Advisers Inc., NWQ Investment Management Company, LLC, Tradewinds Global Investors LLC, Symphony Asset Management LLC, Santa Barbara Asset Management, LLC, and of Winslow Capital Management, LLC. (since 2010); Vice President and Secretary (since 2010) of Nuveen Commodities Asset Management, LLC.   206

Kathleen L. Prudhomme

1953

901 Marquette Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55402

  Vice President and Assistant Secretary   2011   Managing Director, Assistant Secretary and Co-General Counsel (since 2011) of Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC; Managing Director, Assistant Secretary and Associate General Counsel (since 2011) of Nuveen Asset Management, LLC; Managing Director and Assistant Secretary (since 2011) of Nuveen Securities, LLC; formerly, Deputy General Counsel, FAF Advisors, Inc. (2004-2010).   206

Joel T. Slager

1978

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

 

Vice President and Assistant Secretary

  2013   Fund Tax Director for Nuveen Funds (since May, 2013); previously, Vice President of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Inc., Assistant Treasurer of the Morgan Stanley Funds (from 2010 to 2013); Tax Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (from 2008 to 2010).   206

Jeffery M. Wilson

1956

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

  Vice President   2011   Senior Vice President of Nuveen Securities, LLC (since 2011); formerly, Senior Vice President of FAF Advisors, Inc. (2000-2010).   106

 

(1) Each director serves an indefinite term until his/her successor is elected.
(2) Officers serve one year terms through August of each year. The year first elected or appointed represents the year in which the officer was first elected or appointed to any fund in the Nuveen Fund Complex.

 

  86       Nuveen Investments


Notes

 

 

 

Nuveen Investments     87   


LOGO

 

    

 

     

 

           
  Nuveen Investments:            
     Serving Investors for Generations      
    

 

     Since 1898, financial advisors and their clients have relied on Nuveen Investments to provide dependable investment solutions through continued adherence to proven, long-term investing principles. Today, we offer a range of high quality equity and fixed-income solutions designed to be integral components of a well-diversified core portfolio.   
       

 

       

Focused on meeting investor needs.

 

Nuveen Investments provides high-quality investment services designed to help secure the longterm goals of institutional and individual investors as well as the consultants and financial advisors who serve them. Nuveen Investments markets a wide range of specialized investment solutions which provide investors access to capabilities of its high-quality boutique investment affiliates-Nuveen Asset Management, Symphony Asset Management, NWQ Investment Management Company, Santa Barbara Asset Management, Tradewinds Global Investors, Winslow Capital Management, and Gresham Investment Management. In total, Nuveen Investments managed approximately $215 billion as of September 30, 2013.

  
    

 

        
       

Find out how we can help you.

To learn more about how the products and services of Nuveen Investments may be able to help you meet your financial goals, talk to your financial advisor, or call us at (800) 257-8787. Please read the information provided carefully before you invest. Investors should consider the investment objective and policies, risk considerations, charges and expenses of any investment carefully. Where applicable, be sure to obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other relevant information. To obtain a prospectus, please contact your securities representative or Nuveen Investments, 333 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60606. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest or send money.

 

Learn more about Nuveen Funds at: www.nuveen.com/mf

  

 

                 
 

Distributed by Nuveen Securities, LLC 333 West Wacker Drive Chicago, IL 60606 | www.nuveen.com

        

 

MAN-FREGIF-1213D


ITEM 2. CODE OF ETHICS.

As of the end of the period covered by this report, the registrant has adopted a code of ethics that applies to the registrant’s principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions. There were no amendments to or waivers from the code during the period covered by this report. The registrant has posted the code of ethics on its website at www.nuveen.com/MutualFunds/ShareholderResources/FundGovernance.aspx. (To view the code, click on Code of Conduct.)

ITEM 3. AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT.

The registrant’s Board of Directors determined that the registrant has at least one “audit committee financial expert” (as defined in Item 3 of Form N-CSR) serving on its Audit Committee. The registrant’s audit committee financial expert is Carole E. Stone, who is “independent” for purposes of Item 3 of Form N-CSR.

Ms. Stone served for five years as Director of the New York State Division of the Budget. As part of her role as Director, Ms. Stone was actively involved in overseeing the development of the State’s operating, local assistance and capital budgets, its financial plan and related documents; overseeing the development of the State’s bond-related disclosure documents and certifying that they fairly presented the State’s financial position; reviewing audits of various State and local agencies and programs; and coordinating the State’s system of internal audit and control. Prior to serving as Director, Ms. Stone worked as a budget analyst/examiner with increasing levels of responsibility over a 30 year period, including approximately five years as Deputy Budget Director. Ms. Stone has also served as Chair of the New York State Racing Association Oversight Board, as Chair of the Public Authorities Control Board, as a Commissioner on the New York State Commission on Public Authority Reform and as a member of the Boards of Directors of several New York State public authorities. These positions have involved overseeing operations and finances of certain entities and assessing the adequacy of project/entity financing and financial reporting. Currently, Ms. Stone is on the Board of Directors of CBOE Holdings, Inc., of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and of C2 Options Exchange. Ms. Stone’s position on the boards of these entities and as a member of both CBOE Holdings’ Audit Committee and its Finance Committee has involved, among other things, the oversight of audits, audit plans and preparation of financial statements.

ITEM 4. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.

The following tables show the amount of fees that PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the Funds’ auditor, billed to the Funds’ during the Funds’ last two full fiscal years. The Audit Committee approved in advance all audit services and non-audit services that PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP provided to the Funds, except for those non-audit services that were subject to the pre-approval exception under Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X (the “pre-approval exception”). The preapproval exception for services provided directly to the Funds waives the pre-approval requirement for services other than audit, review or attest services if: (A) the aggregate amount of all such services provided constitutes no more than 5% of the total amount of revenues paid by the Funds during the fiscal year in which the services are provided; (B) the Funds did not recognize the services as non-audit services at the time of the engagement; and (C) the services are promptly brought to the Audit Committee’s attention, and the Committee (or its delegate) approves the services before the audit is completed.

The Audit Committee has delegated certain pre-approval responsibilities to its Chairman (or, in his absence, any other member of the Audit Committee).

SERVICES THAT THE AUDITOR BILLED TO THE FUNDS

 

Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2013

   Audit Fees Billed
to Funds 1
     Audit-Related Fees
Billed to Funds 2
     Tax Fees
Billed to Funds 3
     All Other Fees 
Billed to Funds 4
 

Fund Name

           

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

     39,784         0         25,516         0   

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

     56,440         0         8,679         0   

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

     38,040         0         4,794         0   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 134,264       $ 0       $ 38,989       $ 0   

 

 

1  

“Audit Fees” are the aggregate fees billed for professional services for the audit of the Fund’s annual financial statements and services provided in connection with statutory and regulatory filings or engagements.

2  

“Audit-Related Fees” are the aggregate fees billed for assurance and related services reasonably related to the performance of the audit or review of financial statements that are not reported under “Audit Fees”. These fees include offerings related to the Fund’s common shares and leverage.

3  

“Tax Fees” are the aggregate fees billed for professional services for tax advice, tax compliance, and tax planning. These fees include: all global withholding tax services; excise and state tax reviews; capital gain, tax equalization and taxable basis calculations performed by the principal accountant.

4  

“All Other Fees” are the aggregate fees billed for products and services other than “Audit Fees”, “Audit-Related Fees” and “Tax Fees”. These fees represent all “Agreed-Upon Procedures” engagements pertaining to the Fund’s use of leverage.

 

     Percentage Approved Pursuant to Pre-approval  Exception  
     Audit Fees Billed
to Funds
    Audit-Related Fees
Billed to Funds
    Tax Fees
Billed to Funds
    All Other Fees
Billed to Funds
 

Fund Name

        

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

     0     0     0     0

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

     0     0     0     0

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

     0     0     0     0

 

Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2012

   Audit Fees Billed
to Funds 1
     Audit-Related Fees
Billed to Funds 2
     Tax Fees
Billed to Funds 3
     All Other Fees
Billed  to Funds 4
 

Fund Name

           

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

     36,489         0         22,437         0   

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

     50,868         0         1,000         0   

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

     35,659         0         0         0   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 123,016       $ 0       $ 23,437       $ 0   

 

 

1  

“Audit Fees” are the aggregate fees billed for professional services for the audit of the Fund’s annual financial statements and services provided in connection with statutory and regulatory filings or engagements.

2  

“Audit-Related Fees” are the aggregate fees billed for assurance and related services reasonably related to the performance of the audit or review of financial statements that are not reported under “Audit Fees”. These fees include offerings related to the Fund’s common shares and leverage.

3  

“Tax Fees” are the aggregate fees billed for professional services for tax advice, tax compliance, and tax planning. These fees include: all global withholding tax services; excise and state tax reviews; capital gain, tax equalization and taxable basis calculations performed by the principal accountant.

4  

“All Other Fees” are the aggregate fees billed for products and services other than “Audit Fees”, “Audit-Related Fees” and “Tax Fees”. These fees represent all “Agreed-Upon Procedures” engagements pertaining to the Fund’s use of leverage.

 

     Percentage Approved Pursuant to Pre-approval  Exception  
     Audit Fees Billed
to Funds
    Audit-Related Fees
Billed to Funds
    Tax Fees
Billed to Funds
    All Other Fees
Billed to Funds
 

Fund Name

        

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

     0     0     0     0

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

     0     0     0     0

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

     0     0     0     0

 

Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2013

   Audit-Related Fees
Billed to Adviser  and
Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
    Tax Fees Billed to
Adviser and
Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
    All Other Fees
Billed to Adviser
and Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
 

Nuveen Investment Funds, Inc.

   $ 0      $ 0      $ 0   
     Percentage Approved Pursuant to Pre-approval Exception  
     Audit-Related Fees
Billed to Adviser and
Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
    Tax Fees Billed to
Adviser and
Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
    All Other Fees
Billed to Adviser
and Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
 
     0     0     0

Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2012

   Audit-Related Fees
Billed to Adviser and
Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
    Tax Fees Billed to
Adviser and
Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
    All Other Fees
Billed to Adviser
and Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
 

Nuveen Investment Funds, Inc.

   $ 0      $ 0      $ 0   

 

     Percentage Approved Pursuant to Pre-approval Exception  
     Audit-Related Fees
Billed to Adviser  and
Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
    Tax Fees Billed to
Adviser and
Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
    All Other Fees
Billed to Adviser
and Affiliated Fund
Service Providers
 
     0     0     0

 

Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2013

   Total Non-Audit Fees
Billed to Trust
     Total Non-Audit Fees
billed to Adviser and
Affiliated Fund Service
Providers (engagements
related directly to the
operations and financial
reporting of the Trust)
     Total Non-Audit Fees
billed to Adviser and
Affiliated Fund Service
Providers (all other
engagements)
     Total  

Fund Name

           

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

     25,516         0         0         25,516   

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

     8,679         0         0         8,679   

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

     4,794         0         0         4,794   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 38,989       $ 0       $ 0       $ 38,989   

“Non-Audit Fees billed to Fund” for both fiscal year ends represent “Tax Fees” and “All Other Fees” billed to Fund in their respective amounts from the previous table.

Less than 50 percent of the hours expended on the principal accountant’s engagement to audit the registrant’s financial statements for the most recent fiscal year were attributed to work performed by persons other than the principal accountant’s full-time, permanent employees.

 

Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2012

   Total Non-Audit Fees
Billed to Trust
     Total Non-Audit Fees
billed to Adviser and
Affiliated Fund Service
Providers (engagements
related directly to the
operations and financial
reporting of the Trust)
     Total Non-Audit Fees
billed to Adviser and
Affiliated Fund Service
Providers (all other
engagements)
     Total  

Fund Name

           

Nuveen Global Infrastructure Fund

     22,437         0         0         22,437   

Nuveen Real Estate Securities Fund

     1,000         0         0         1,000   

Nuveen Real Asset Income Fund

     0         0         0         0   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 23,437       $ 0       $ 0       $ 23,437   

“Non-Audit Fees billed to Fund” for both fiscal year ends represent “Tax Fees” and “All Other Fees” billed to Fund in their respective amounts from the previous table.

Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures. Generally, the Audit Committee must approve (i) all non-audit services to be performed for the Funds by the Funds’ independent accountant and (ii) all audit and non-audit services to be performed by the Funds’ independent accountant for the Affiliated Fund Service Providers with respect to the operations and financial reporting of the Funds. Regarding tax and research projects conducted by the independent accountant for the Funds and Affiliated Fund Service Providers (with respect to operations and financial reports of the Trust), such engagements will be (i) pre-approved by the Audit Committee if they are expected to be for amounts greater than $10,000; (ii) reported to the Audit Committee Chairman for his verbal approval prior to engagement if they are expected to be for amounts under $10,000 but greater than $5,000; and (iii) reported to the Audit Committee at the next Audit Committee meeting if they are expected to be for an amount under $5,000.

ITEM 5. AUDIT COMMITTEE OF LISTED REGISTRANTS.

Not applicable to this registrant.

ITEM 6. SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS.

 

a)   See Portfolio of Investments in Item 1.

 

b)   Not applicable.

ITEM 7. DISCLOSURE OF PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR CLOSED-END

MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

Not applicable to this registrant.

ITEM 8. PORTFOLIO MANAGERS OF CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.

Not applicable to this registrant.

ITEM 9. PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANY AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS.

Not applicable to this registrant.

ITEM 10. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS.

There have been no material changes to the procedures by which shareholders may recommend nominees to the registrant’s Board of Trustees implemented after the registrant last provided disclosure in response to this Item.

ITEM 11. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.

 

  (a)  

The registrant’s principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, have concluded that the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) (17 CFR 270.30a-3(c))) are effective, as of a date within 90 days of the filing date of this report that includes the disclosure required by this paragraph, based on their evaluation of the controls and procedures required by Rule 30a-3(b) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR 270.30a-3(b)) and Rules 13a-15(b) or 15d-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) (17 CFR 240.13a-15(b) or 240.15d-15(b)).

 

  (b)  

There were no changes in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR 270.30a-3(d)) that occurred during the second fiscal quarter of the period covered by this report that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

ITEM 12. EXHIBITS.

File the exhibits listed below as part of this Form.

 

(a)(1)   Any code of ethics, or amendment thereto, that is the subject of the disclosure required by Item 2, to the extent that the registrant intends to satisfy the Item 2 requirements through filing of an exhibit: Not applicable because the code is posted on registrant’s website at www.nuveen.com/MutualFunds/ShareholderResources/FundGovernance.aspx and there were no amendments during the period covered by this report. (To view the code, click on Code of Conduct.)
(a)(2)   A separate certification for each principal executive officer and principal financial officer of the registrant as required by Rule 30a-2(a) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR 270.30a-2(a)) in the exact form set forth below: See EX-99.CERT attached hereto.
(a)(3)   Any written solicitation to purchase securities under Rule 23c-1 under the 1940 Act (17 CFR 270.23c-1) sent or given during the period covered by the report by or on behalf of the registrant to 10 or more persons: Not applicable to this registrant.
(b)   If the report is filed under Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, provide the certifications required by Rule 30a-2(b) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR 270.30a-2(b)), Rule 13a-14(b) or Rule 15d-14(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13a-14(b) or 240.15d-14(b)), and Section 1350 of Chapter 63 of Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C. 1350) as an Exhibit. A certification furnished pursuant to this paragraph will not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78r), or otherwise subject to the liability of that section. Such certification will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that the registration specifically incorporates it by reference: See EX-99.906 CERT attached hereto.


SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

(Registrant) Nuveen Investment Funds, Inc.

 

By (Signature and Title)

 

   /s/ Kevin J. McCarthy
   Kevin J. McCarthy
   Vice President and Secretary

Date: March 6, 2014

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

By (Signature and Title)

 

   /s/ Gifford R. Zimmerman
   Gifford R. Zimmerman
   Chief Administrative Officer
   (principal executive officer)

Date: March 6, 2014

 

By (Signature and Title)    /s/ Stephen D. Foy
   Stephen D. Foy
   Vice President and Controller
   (principal financial officer)

Date: March 6, 2014