-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 2001,MIC-CLEAR Originator-Name: webmaster@www.sec.gov Originator-Key-Asymmetric: MFgwCgYEVQgBAQICAf8DSgAwRwJAW2sNKK9AVtBzYZmr6aGjlWyK3XmZv3dTINen TWSM7vrzLADbmYQaionwg5sDW3P6oaM5D3tdezXMm7z1T+B+twIDAQAB MIC-Info: RSA-MD5,RSA, Cd4ZsWMiPMGWZqLuUBtS59kl5ZAG75Zvw9p8Snla3jnW2s6s+uqB6iBW4Q7zAPqo SwuZrG88suX7rEd62xP0+w== 0000088053-11-000154.txt : 20110201 0000088053-11-000154.hdr.sgml : 20110201 20110131184846 ACCESSION NUMBER: 0000088053-11-000154 CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: 497K PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 1 FILED AS OF DATE: 20110201 DATE AS OF CHANGE: 20110131 EFFECTIVENESS DATE: 20110201 FILER: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: DWS INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC. CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0000088053 IRS NUMBER: 132827803 FISCAL YEAR END: 0331 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: 497K SEC ACT: 1933 Act SEC FILE NUMBER: 002-14400 FILM NUMBER: 11560959 BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: 345 PARK AVENUE CITY: NEW YORK STATE: NY ZIP: 10154-0004 BUSINESS PHONE: 212-454-6778 MAIL ADDRESS: STREET 1: 345 PARK AVENUE CITY: NEW YORK STATE: NY ZIP: 10154-0004 FORMER COMPANY: FORMER CONFORMED NAME: SCUDDER INTERNATIONAL FUND INC DATE OF NAME CHANGE: 19920703 FORMER COMPANY: FORMER CONFORMED NAME: SCUDDER INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENTS LTD DATE OF NAME CHANGE: 19761203 0000088053 S000006031 DWS Latin America Equity Fund C000016574 Class A SLANX C000016576 Class B SLAOX C000016577 Class C SLAPX C000016579 Class S SLAFX 497K 1 k020111int_laef.txt 497K FILING - DWS LATIN AMERICA EQUITY FUND Summary Prospectus February 1, 2011 [DWS INVESTMENTS LOGO] Deutsche Bank Group DWS LATIN AMERICA EQUITY FUND CLASS/Ticker A SLANX B SLAOX C SLAPX S SLAFX
Before you invest, you may want to review the fund's prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund's prospectus, Statement of Additional Information (SAI) and other information about the fund online at https://www.dws-investments.com/mutualpros. You can also get this information at no cost by e-mailing a request to inquiry.info@dws.com, calling (800) 621-1048 (A, B, C) and (800) 728-3337 (S) or asking your financial advisor. The prospectus and SAI, both dated February 1, 2011, as may be supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND These are the fees and expenses you may pay when you buy and hold shares. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in DWS funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in Choosing a Share Class in the prospectus (p. 50) and Purchase and Redemption of Shares in the fund's SAI (p. II-17). SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment)
A B C S ------------ --------- --------- --------- Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price 5.75 None None None - ----------------------------------------- ---- -- -- -- Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds None(1) 4.00 1.00 None - ----------------------------------------- -------- ---- ---- -- Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 - ----------------------------------------- -------- ---- ---- ----
ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
A B C S --------- --------- --------- ---------- Management fee 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.12 - ------------------------------------- ---- ---- ---- ---- Distribution/service (12b-1) fees 0.24 0.99 0.99 None - ------------------------------------- ---- ---- ---- ----- Other expenses 0.40 0.44 0.45 0.31 - ------------------------------------- ---- ---- ---- ----- TOTAL ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES 1.76 2.55 2.56 1.43 - ------------------------------------- ---- ---- ---- -----
(1) Investments of $1 million or more may be eligible to buy Class A shares without a sales charge (load), but may be subject to a contingent deferred sales charge of 1.00% if redeemed within 12 months of purchase and 0.50% if redeemed within the following six months. EXAMPLE This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
YEARS A B C S - ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- 1 $ 744 $ 658 $ 359 $ 146 - -- ----- ----- ----- ----- 3 1,097 1,094 796 452 - -- ----- ----- ----- ----- 5 1,474 1,555 1,360 782 - -- ----- ----- ----- ----- 10 2,529 2,515 2,895 1,713 - -- ----- ----- ----- -----
You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:
YEARS A B C S - ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- 1 $ 744 $ 258 $ 259 $ 146 - -- ----- ----- ----- ----- 3 1,097 794 796 452 - -- ----- ----- ----- ----- 5 1,474 1,355 1,360 782 - -- ----- ----- ----- ----- 10 2,529 2,515 2,895 1,713 - -- ----- ----- ----- -----
Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion. PORTFOLIO TURNOVER The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may mean higher taxes if you are investing in a taxable account. These costs are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the expense example, and can affect the fund's performance. Portfolio turnover rate for fiscal year 2010: 37%. PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGY MAIN INVESTMENTS. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in Latin American common stocks and other equities (equities that are 1 traded mainly on Latin American markets, issued or guaranteed by a Latin American government or issued by a company organized under the laws of a Latin American country or any company with more than half of its business in Latin America). The fund defines Latin America as Mexico, Central America, South America and the Spanish-speaking islands of the Caribbean. The fund may invest up to 20% of net assets in the equity securities of US and other non-Latin American issuers and in debt securities including junk bonds (grade BB/Ba and below). The fund may also invest as much as 10% of net assets in securities rated B or lower. MANAGEMENT PROCESS. Although the fund may invest in any Latin American country, it expects to invest primarily in common stocks of established companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, Panama and Peru. In choosing securities, portfolio management uses a combination of three analytical disciplines: o BOTTOM-UP RESEARCH. Portfolio management looks for individual companies that it believes have a history of above-average growth, strong competitive positioning, attractive prices relative to potential growth, sound financial strength and effective management, among other factors. o GROWTH ORIENTATION. Portfolio management generally looks for companies that it believes have above-average potential for sustainable growth of revenue or earnings and whose market value appears reasonable in light of their business prospects. o ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL THEMES. Portfolio management looks for significant social, economic, industrial and demographic changes, seeking to identify stocks that may benefit from them. DERIVATIVES. Portfolio management generally may use futures contracts, which are a type of derivative (a contract whose value is based on, for example, indices, currencies or securities) as a substitute for direct investment in a particular asset class or to keep cash on hand to meet shareholder redemptions. In addition, portfolio management generally may use forward currency contracts to hedge its exposure to changes in foreign currency exchange rates on its foreign currency denominated portfolio holdings or to facilitate transactions in foreign currency denominated securities. Portfolio management may generally use structured notes to gain exposure to local shares in foreign markets. The fund may also use various types of derivatives (i) for hedging purposes; (ii) for risk management; (iii) for non-hedging purposes to seek to enhance potential gains; or (iv) as a substitute for direct investment in a particular asset class or to keep cash on hand to meet shareholder redemptions. SECURITIES LENDING. The fund may lend securities (up to one-third of total assets) to approved institutions. MAIN RISKS There are several risk factors that could hurt the fund's performance, cause you to lose money or cause the fund's performance to trail that of other investments. The fund may not achieve its investment objective, and is not intended to be a complete investment program. An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. STOCK MARKET RISK. The fund is affected by how the stock market performs. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well. FOREIGN INVESTMENT RISK. The fund faces the risks inherent in foreign investing. Adverse political, economic or social developments could undermine the value of the fund's investments or prevent the fund from realizing their full value. Financial reporting standards for companies based in foreign markets differ from those in the US. Additionally, foreign securities markets generally are smaller and less liquid than US markets. To the extent that the fund invests in non-US dollar denominated foreign securities, changes in currency exchange rates may affect the US dollar value of foreign securities or the income or gain received on these securities. REGIONAL FOCUS RISK. Focusing on a single country or few countries, or regions, involves increased currency, political, regulatory and other risks. To the extent the fund focuses its investments on Latin American markets, market swings in that region will be likely to have a greater effect on fund performance than they would in a more geographically diversified fund. EMERGING MARKETS RISK. Foreign investment risks are greater in emerging markets than in developed markets. Investments in emerging markets are often considered speculative. NON-DIVERSIFICATION RISK. The fund is classified as non-diversified under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. This means that the fund may invest in securities of relatively few issuers. Thus, the performance of one or a small number of portfolio holdings can affect overall performance. GROWTH INVESTING RISK. As a category, growth stocks may underperform value stocks (and the stock market as a whole) over any period of time. Because the prices of growth stocks are based largely on the expectation of future earnings, growth stock prices can decline rapidly and significantly in reaction to negative news about such factors as earnings, the economy, political developments, or other news. PRICING RISK. If market conditions make it difficult to value some investments, the fund may value these investments using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for an investment 2 DWS Latin America Equity Fund SUMMARY PROSPECTUS February 1, 2011 could be different than the value realized upon such investment's sale. As a result, you could pay more than the market value when buying fund shares or receive less than the market value when selling fund shares. DERIVATIVES RISK. Risks associated with derivatives include the risk that the derivative is not well correlated with the security, index or currency to which it relates; the risk that derivatives may result in losses or missed opportunities; the risk that the fund will be unable to sell the derivative because of an illiquid secondary market; the risk that a counterparty is unwilling or unable to meet its obligation; and the risk that the derivative transaction could expose the fund to the effects of leverage, which could increase the fund's exposure to the market and magnify potential losses. SECURITY SELECTION RISK. The securities in the fund's portfolio may decline in value. Portfolio management could be wrong in its analysis of industries, companies, economic trends, the relative attractiveness of different securities or other matters. SECURITIES LENDING RISK. Any decline in the value of a portfolio security that occurs while the security is out on loan is borne by the fund, and will adversely affect performance. Also, there may be delays in recovery of securities loaned or even a loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially while holding the security. CREDIT RISK. The fund's performance could be hurt if an issuer of a debt security suffers an adverse change in financial condition that results in a payment default, security downgrade or inability to meet a financial obligation. Credit risk is greater for lower-rated securities. INTEREST RATE RISK. When interest rates rise, prices of debt securities generally decline. The longer the duration of the fund's debt securities, the more sensitive it will be to interest rate changes. (As a general rule, a 1% rise in interest rates means a 1% fall in value for every year of duration.) COUNTERPARTY RISK. A financial institution or other counterparty with whom the fund does business, or that underwrites, distributes or guarantees any investments or contracts that the fund owns or is otherwise exposed to, may decline in financial health and become unable to honor its commitments. This could cause losses for the fund or could delay the return or delivery of collateral or other assets to the fund. LIQUIDITY RISK. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price. PREPAYMENT AND EXTENSION RISK. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Prepayments could also create capital gains tax liability in some instances. PAST PERFORMANCE How a fund's returns vary from year to year can give an idea of its risk; so can comparing fund performance to overall market performance (as measured by an appropriate market index). Past performance may not indicate future results. All performance figures below assume that dividends were reinvested. For more recent performance figures, go to www.dws-investments.com (the Web site does not form a part of this prospectus) or call the phone number for your share class included in this prospectus. For all share classes, performance prior to class inception is Class S performance, adjusted to reflect the higher expenses of the relevant share class. CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class S) These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, and would be lower if they did. Returns for other classes were different and are not shown here. [GRAPHIC APPEARS HERE] 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 -0.82 -18.28 54.86 34.09 52.45 42.41 44.95 -55.81 92.79 11.38
Best Quarter: 34.21%, Q2 2009 Worst Quarter: -36.51%, Q4 2008
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS (For periods ended 12/31/2010 expressed as a %) These returns include sales charges, if any. Indexes have no sales charges and cannot be invested in directly. After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class S and would be different for other classes) reflect the historical highest individual federal income tax rates, but do not reflect any state or local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns may be different. After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan. 3 DWS Latin America Equity Fund SUMMARY PROSPECTUS February 1, 2011
CLASS 1 5 10 INCEPTION YEAR YEARS YEARS ----------- --------- ---------- ---------- CLASS A before tax 5/29/2001 4.61 12.68 16.49 - --------------------------- --------- ----- ----- ----- CLASS B before tax 5/29/2001 7.13 12.96 16.62 - --------------------------- --------- ----- ----- ----- CLASS C before tax 5/29/2001 10.11 13.09 16.23 - --------------------------- --------- ----- ----- ----- CLASS S before tax 12/8/1992 11.38 14.36 17.51 - --------------------------- --------- ----- ----- ----- After tax on distributions 9.99 12.49 16.36 After tax on distribu- tions and sale of fund shares 8.82 12.24 15.71 - --------------------------- --------- ----- ----- ----- MORGAN STANLEY CAPITAL INTERNATIONAL (MSCI) EM (EMERGING MARKETS) LATIN AMERICA INDEX (reflects no deduction for fees or expense) 14.66 19.57 21.18 - --------------------------- --------- ----- ----- -----
MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT ADVISOR Deutsche Investment Management Americas Inc. PORTFOLIO MANAGER(S) RAINER VERMEHREN, DIRECTOR. Lead Portfolio Manager of the fund. Joined the fund in 2009. FLORIAN TANZER, ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT. Portfolio Manager of the fund. Joined the fund in 2009. PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES MINIMUM INITIAL INVESTMENT ($)
AUTOMATIC UGMAS/ INVESTMENT NON-IRA IRAS UTMAS PLANS --------- -------- -------- ----------- A B C 1,000 500 1,000 500 - ------- ----- --- ----- --- S 2,500 1,000 1,000 1,000 - ------- ----- ----- ----- -----
For participants in certain fee-based and wrap programs offered through certain financial intermediaries approved by the Advisor, there is no minimum initial investment for Class A, B, C and S shares and no minimum additional investment for Class A and S shares. The minimum additional investment for all other instances is $50. For existing Class B shareholders, the minimum initial investment for Class A and C shares is $50. TO PLACE ORDERS MAIL First Investment DWS Investments, PO Box 219356 Kansas City, MO 64121-9356 Additional Investments DWS Investments, PO Box 219154 Kansas City, MO 64121-9154 Exchanges and DWS Investments, PO Box 219557 Redemptions Kansas City, MO 64121-9557 EXPEDITED MAIL DWS Investments, 210 West 10th Street Kansas City, MO 64105-1614 WEB SITE www.dws-investments.com TELEPHONE Class A, B or C shares: (800) 621-1048 Class S shares: (800) 728-3337 M - F 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET TDD LINE (800) 972-3006, M - F 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET
You can buy or sell shares of the fund on any business day at our web site, by mail, or by telephone. The fund is generally open on days when the New York Stock Exchange is open for regular trading. Class B shares are closed to new purchases, except for exchanges and the reinvestment of dividends or other distributions. Class S shares are only available to a limited group of investors. TAX INFORMATION The fund's distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, except when your investment is in an IRA, 401(k), or other tax-deferred investment plan. PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES If you purchase the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary's web site for more information. 4 DWS Latin America Equity Fund SUMMARY PROSPECTUS February 1, 2011 DLAF-SUM -----END PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE-----