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UBS Asset Growth Fund
UBS Asset Growth Fund
Investment objective

The Fund seeks to obtain superior long-term returns on capital.

Fees and expenses

These tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. You may qualify for a sales charge waiver or discount if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund. More information about these and other discounts and waivers, as well as eligibility requirements for each share class, is available from your financial advisor and in "Managing your fund account" on page 57 of the Fund's prospectus and in "Reduced sales charges, additional purchase, exchange and redemption information and other services" on page 117 of the Fund's statement of additional information ("SAI").

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees UBS Asset Growth Fund
Class A
Class C
Class P
Maximum front-end sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a % of offering price) 5.50% none none
Maximum contingent deferred sales charge (load) (CDSC) (as a % of purchase or sales price, whichever is less) none [1] 1.00% none
Redemption fee (as a % of amount redeemed within 90 days of purchase, if applicable) 1.00% 1.00% 1.00%
[1] Purchases of $1 million or more that were not subject to a front-end sales charge are subject to a 1% CDSC if sold within one year of the purchase date.
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses UBS Asset Growth Fund
Class A
Class C
Class P
Management fees 0.95% 0.95% 0.95%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees 0.25% 1.00% none
Other expenses 0.99% 1.01% 0.99%
Acquired fund fees and expenses 0.17% 0.17% 0.17%
Total annual fund operating expenses [1] 2.36% 3.13% 2.11%
Less management fee waiver/expense reimbursements 0.79% 0.81% 0.79%
Total annual fund operating expenses after management fee waiver/expense reimbursements [1][2] 1.57% 2.32% 1.32%
[1] Since the "Acquired fund fees and expenses" are not directly borne by the Fund, they are not reflected in the Fund's financial statements, and therefore the amounts listed in "Total annual fund operating expenses" and "Total annual fund operating expenses after management fee waiver/expense reimbursements" will differ from those presented in the Financial highlights.
[2] The Trust, with respect to the Fund, and UBS Global Asset Management (Americas) Inc., the Fund's investment advisor ("UBS Global AM (Americas)" or the "Advisor"), have entered into a written agreement pursuant to which the Advisor has agreed to waive a portion of its management fees and/or to reimburse expenses (excluding expenses incurred through investment in other investment companies, interest, taxes, brokerage commissions, extraordinary expenses, and dividend expense and security loan fees for securities sold short) to the extent necessary so that the Fund's ordinary operating expenses (excluding expenses incurred through investment in other investment companies, interest, taxes, brokerage commissions, extraordinary expenses, and dividend expense and security loan fees for securities sold short), through the period ending October 27, 2015, do not exceed 1.40% for Class A shares, 2.15% for Class C shares and 1.15% for Class P shares. Pursuant to the written agreement, the Advisor is entitled to be reimbursed for any fees it waives and expenses it reimburses for a period of three years following such fee waivers and expense reimbursements to the extent that such reimbursement of the Advisor by the Fund will not cause the Fund to exceed any applicable expense limit that is in place for the Fund. The fee waiver/expense reimbursement agreement may be terminated by the Fund's Board of Trustees at any time and also will terminate automatically upon the expiration or termination of the Fund's advisory contract with the Advisor. Upon termination of the fee waiver/expense reimbursement agreement, however, the UBS Global AM (Americas)'s three year recoupment rights will survive.
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 sell all of your shares at the end of those periods unless otherwise stated. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. The costs described in the example reflect the expenses of the Fund that would result from the contractual fee waiver and expense reimbursement agreement with the Advisor for the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:

Expense Example UBS Asset Growth Fund (USD $)
1 year
3 years
5 years
10 years
Class A
701 1,175 1,673 3,041
Class C
335 890 1,570 3,383
Class P
134 585 1,061 2,379
Expense Example No Redemption (USD $)
1 year
3 years
5 years
10 years
UBS Asset Growth Fund Class C
235 890 1,570 3,383
Portfolio turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 112% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal strategies


Principal investments


In order to achieve the Fund's objective, the Fund employs an asset allocation strategy that seeks to achieve a return over the long term similar to the MSCI World Free Index (net), but with more stable volatility. The Advisor does not represent or guarantee that the Fund will meet this goal. As part of the Fund's asset allocation strategy, the Fund will primarily use passive index components and derivatives, including but not limited to futures and swaps, but also may invest directly in individual securities. The Fund's passive index component will utilize third-party passively managed exchanged-traded funds ("ETFs") to gain exposure to equity, fixed income, and alternative asset class securities, including, but are not limited to, convertible bonds and real estate securities, including REITs and real estate operating companies. The Fund may gain exposure to issuers located within and outside the United States.


The Fund will incorporate a managed volatility feature that seeks to control portfolio volatility to a target of 15% annually. Volatility is a risk measurement that measures the relative rate at which the price of a security moves up and down and is typically determined by calculating the annualized standard deviation of the daily change in price. Commonly, the higher the volatility the greater the risk of the security. While the Advisor attempts to manage the Fund's volatility, there can be no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its target and the actual volatility may be higher or lower than 15% over any period. This strategy of attempting to manage volatility may result in the Fund outperforming the general securities market during periods of flat or negative market performance where broad market volatility is above the target level or where broad market volatility is beneath the target level but returns are positive. The strategy may underperform the general securities market during periods of positive market performance when broad market volatility exceeds the target level.


The Fund will adjust its exposure to markets in response to changes in expected volatility. The Fund may without limitation allocate assets to cash or short-term money market instruments as well as derivatives in order to reduce exposure to riskier assets during periods of increasing market risk. When volatility declines, the Fund may move assets out of cash and back into riskier assets. As part of its attempt to manage the Fund's volatility exposure, the Fund may make significant investments in index futures, options, or other derivative instruments designed to achieve both long and short exposure to asset markets. The Fund has the ability to employ a maximum exposure target of up to 175% of fund assets to the markets.


Under normal circumstances, the Fund allocates its assets between equity, fixed income, and alternative asset class securities, including securities of issuers in both developed (including the United States) and emerging markets countries. Equity investments may include securities of companies of any capitalization size. Investments in fixed income securities may include, but are not limited to, debt securities of governments throughout the world (including the United States), their agencies and instrumentalities, debt securities of corporations, mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities. These securities may be either investment grade or high yield (lower-rated or "junk bonds") securities. Investments in equity securities may include, but are not limited to, common stock and preferred stock.


The Fund may, but is not required to, use exchange-traded or over-the-counter ("OTC") derivative instruments for risk management purposes or as part of the Fund's investment strategies. Generally, derivatives are financial contracts whose value depends upon, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, or index, and may relate to stocks, bonds, interest rates, currencies or currency exchange rates, and related indexes. The derivatives in which the Fund may invest include index options, futures (including, but not limited to, futures on a commodity index), forward agreements, swap agreements (including, but not limited to, interest rate, credit default, equity index, inflation swaps and total return swaps), equity participation notes and equity linked notes. All of these derivatives may be used for risk management purposes, such as hedging against a specific security or currency or to manage or adjust the risk profile of the Fund and to manage the Fund's volatility. In addition, all of the derivative instruments listed above may be used for investment (non-hedging) purposes to earn income; to enhance returns; to replace more traditional direct investments; to obtain exposure to certain markets; or to establish net short positions for individual markets, currencies or securities. Futures on indices, forward agreements, interest rate swaps and credit default swaps may also be used to adjust the Fund's portfolio duration.


Management process


The Advisor will manage the Fund's portfolio using a two-step process as described below.


Step 1: Asset Allocation
The underlying tactical asset allocation strategy is determined by the Advisor taking account of the potential returns and risks of each asset class, the expected diversification benefits from a multi-asset approach and the Advisor's views of potential returns and risks over a 3-5 year time horizon. This will be a dynamic process and will result in changes to the underlying asset allocation strategy as the outlook changes.


Step 2: Managed Volatility
The exposure to the strategy defined in step 1 will then be determined and implemented targeting a portfolio volatility of 15% or lower. The Fund will seek to achieve this objective by systematically adjusting its exposure to the asset allocation strategy outlined in steps 1 and 2, with a maximum exposure of up to 175% of Fund assets to the markets.


Asset allocation decisions are primarily driven by the Advisor's assessment of valuation and prevailing market conditions in the United States and around the world. Using a systematic approach, the portfolio management team analyzes the asset classes and investments across equities, fixed income, and alternative asset classes (including currency), considering both fundamental valuation, economic and other market indicators. Regarding valuation, the Advisor evaluates whether asset classes and investments are attractively priced relative to fundamentals. The starting point is to assess the intrinsic value of an asset class, as determined by the fundamentals that drive an asset class' future cash flow. The intrinsic value represents a long term anchor point to which the Advisor believes the asset class will eventually revert.


Fair value estimates of asset classes and markets are an output of the Advisor's proprietary valuation models. Discounting the asset's future cash flow using a discount rate that appropriately reflects the inherent investment risk associated with holding the asset gives the asset's fair value. The competitive advantage of the Advisor's models lies in the quality and consistency of the inputs used and, therefore, the reliability of valuation conclusions. The discrepancy between actual market level and fair value (the price/value discrepancy) is the primary valuation signal used in identifying investment opportunities.


Next, the Advisor assesses additional market indicators and considers the effect that other determinants of economic growth and overall market volatility will have on each asset class. While in theory price/value discrepancies may resolve themselves quickly and linearly, in practice price/value discrepancy can grow larger before it resolves. While valuation models have proven effective at identifying longer-term price/value discrepancies, in the shorter term other factors can swamp valuation considerations. Thus, the Advisor incorporates an additional discipline in the idea generation process. The Advisor refers to this additional step in their idea generation process as market behavior analysis. Adding this step helps the Advisor understand what other market indicators might drive the market towards or away from fundamental value. The Advisor performs systematic analysis of non-valuation drivers using models measuring sentiment, momentum and flows, market stress, the stage of the economic cycle, as well as an assessment of the general macroeconomic landscape. Conversely, valuation considerations tend to dominate when an asset class is substantially above or below fair value, but the Advisor recognizes that the use of market behavior analysis during these periods is very important to helping improve the timing in and out of these asset classes with very stretched valuations.


The Advisor uses both fundamental valuation and market behavior analysis to make the two-pronged determination of risk budget and risk allocation. The Advisor works closely with the Risk Management team to determine the appropriate amount of risk capital to allocate to the underlying trade ideas given the strategy's risk budget and objectives, prevailing investment opportunities, and other strategy exposures. To assist in this process the Risk Management team performs scenario and correlation analysis to assess the effects each trade's inclusion will have on the risk and diversification of the overall strategy, and ensures that unintended factor exposures are identified, managed and monitored.

Main risks

All investments carry a certain amount of risk and the Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. You may lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of the bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Below are some of the specific risks of investing in the Fund.


Investing in other funds risk: The Fund's investment performance is affected by the investment performance of the underlying funds in which the Fund may invest, including ETFs ("Underlying Funds"). Through its investment in the Underlying Funds, the Fund is subject to the risks of the Underlying Funds' investments and subject to the Underlying Funds' expenses.


Market risk: The risk that the market value of the Fund's investments may fluctuate, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, as the stock and bond markets fluctuate. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry, or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole.


Interest rate risk: An increase in prevailing interest rates typically causes the value of fixed income securities to fall. Changes in interest rates will likely affect the value of longer-duration fixed income securities more than shorter-duration securities and higher quality securities more than lower quality securities. When interest rates are falling, some fixed income securities provide that the issuer may repay them earlier than the maturity date, and if this occurs the Fund may have to reinvest these repayments at lower interest rates. The risks associated with rising interest rates may be more pronounced in the near future due to the current period of historically low rates.


US Government securities risk: There are different types of US government securities with different levels of credit risk, including risk of default, depending on the nature of the particular government support for that security. For example, a US government-sponsored entity, although chartered or sponsored by an Act of Congress, may issue securities that are neither insured nor guaranteed by the US Treasury and are therefore riskier than those that are.


Credit risk: The risk that the Fund could lose money if the issuer or guarantor of a fixed income security, or the counterparty to or guarantor of a derivative contract, is unable or unwilling to meet its financial obligations. This risk is likely greater for lower quality investments than for investments that are higher quality.


High yield bond risk: The risk that the issuer of bonds with ratings of BB (Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P")) or Ba (Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's")) or below, or deemed of equivalent quality, will default or otherwise be unable to honor a financial obligation (also known as lower-rated or "junk bonds"). These securities are considered to be predominately speculative with respect to an issuer's capacity to pay interest and repay principal in accordance with the terms of the obligations. Lower-quality bonds are more likely to be subject to an issuer's default or downgrade than investment grade (higher quality) bonds.


Limited capitalization risk: The risk that securities of smaller capitalization companies tend to be more volatile and less liquid than securities of larger capitalization companies. This can have a disproportionate effect on the market price of smaller capitalization companies and affect the Fund's ability to purchase or sell these securities. In general, smaller capitalization companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.


Foreign investing risk: The value of the Fund's investments in foreign securities may fall due to adverse political, social and economic developments abroad and due to decreases in foreign currency values relative to the US dollar. Investments in foreign government bonds involve special risks because the Fund may have limited legal recourse in the event of default. Also, foreign securities are sometimes less liquid and more difficult to sell and to value than securities of US issuers. These risks are greater for investments in emerging market issuers. In addition, investments in emerging market issuers may decline in value because of unfavorable foreign government actions, greater risks of political instability or the absence of accurate information about emerging market issuers.


Asset allocation risk: The risk that the Fund may allocate assets to an asset category that performs poorly relative to other asset categories.


Derivatives risk: The value of "derivatives"—so called because their value "derives" from the value of an underlying asset, reference rate or index—may rise or fall more rapidly than other investments. It is possible for the Fund to lose more than the amount it invested in the derivative. The risks of investing in derivative instruments also include market risk, management risk and counterparty risk (which is the risk that a counterparty to a derivative contract is unable or unwilling to meet its financial obligations). Derivatives relating to fixed income markets are especially susceptible to interest rate risk and credit risk. In addition, many types of swaps and other non-exchange traded derivatives may be subject to liquidity risk, credit risk and mispricing or valuation complexity. These derivatives risks are different from, and may be greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other instruments.


Leverage risk associated with financial instruments: The use of financial instruments to increase potential returns, including derivatives used for investment (non-hedging) purposes, may cause the Fund to be more volatile than if it had not been leveraged. The use of leverage may also accelerate the velocity of losses and can result in losses to the Fund that exceed the amount originally invested.


Real estate securities and REITs risk: The risk that the Fund's performance will be affected by adverse developments in the real estate industry. Real estate values may be affected by a variety of factors, including: local, national or global economic conditions; changes in zoning or other property-related laws; environmental regulations; interest rates; tax and insurance considerations; overbuilding; property taxes and operating expenses; or declining values in a neighborhood. Similarly, a REIT's performance depends on the types, values, locations and management of the properties it owns. In addition, a REIT may be more susceptible to adverse developments affecting a single project or market segment than a more diversified investment. Loss of status as a qualified REIT under the US federal tax laws could adversely affect the value of a particular REIT or the market for REITs as a whole.


Volatility management risk: While the Fund's strategy seeks to manage the level of the Fund's volatility, there can be no guarantee that this will be achieved; actual or realized volatility for any particular period may be materially higher or lower than the manager's targeted volatility level depending on market conditions. In addition, the efforts to manage the Fund's volatility may be expected, in a period of generally positive equity market returns when broad market volatility is above the target volatility level, to reduce the Portfolio's performance below what could be achieved without seeking to manage volatility and, thus, the Portfolio would generally be expected to underperform market indices that do not seek to achieve a specified level of volatility.


Illiquidity risk: The risk that investments cannot be readily sold at the desired time or price, and the Fund may have to accept a lower price or may not be able to sell the security at all. An inability to sell securities can adversely affect the Fund's value or prevent the Fund from taking advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquid portfolio investments may become illiquid or less liquid after purchase by the Fund due to low trading volume, adverse investor perceptions and/or other market developments. Illiquidity risk includes the risk that the Fund will experience significant net redemptions at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss. Illiquidity risk can be more pronounced in periods of market turmoil.


Tracking error risk for ETFs and derivatives: Imperfect correlation between a derivative or ETF's portfolio securities and those in its index, rounding of prices, the timing of cash flows, the ETF's size, changes to the index and regulatory requirements may cause tracking error, which is the divergence of an ETF's performance from that of its underlying index. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because an ETF incurs fees and expenses while its underlying index does not.


Passive investment risk: ETFs purchased by the Fund are not actively managed and may be affected by general decline in market segments relating to their respective indices. An ETF typically invests in securities included in, or representative of, its index regardless of their investment merits and does not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets.


Investing in ETFs risk: The Fund's investment in ETFs may subject the Fund to additional risks than if the Fund would have invested directly in the ETF's underlying securities. These risks include the possibility that an ETF may experience a lack of liquidity that can result in greater volatility than its underlying securities; an ETF may trade at a premium or discount to its net asset value; or an ETF may not replicate exactly the performance of the benchmark index it seeks to track. In addition, investing in an ETF may also be more costly than if a Fund had owned the underlying securities directly. The Fund, and indirectly, shareholders of the Fund, bear a proportionate share of the ETF's expenses, which include management and advisory fees and other expenses. In addition, the Fund will pay brokerage commissions in connection with the purchase and sale.


Management risk: The risk that the investment strategies, techniques and risk analyses employed by the Advisor may not produce the desired results.

Performance Risk/return bar chart and table

The performance information that follows shows the Fund's performance information in a bar chart and an average annual total returns table. The information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund's performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund's average annual total returns compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The MSCI World Free Index (net) shows how the Fund's performance compares to an index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets. The MSCI World Free Index (net) reflects no deduction for fees and expenses. Life of class performance of the MSCI World Free Index (net) is as of the inception month end for each class of the Fund. The Fund's past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. On or about October 28, 2013, the Fund's investment strategies changed. The performance below is attributable to the Fund's performance before the strategy change. Updated performance for the Fund is available at http://globalam-us.ubs.com/corpweb/performance.do.


After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. After-tax returns for other classes will vary from the Class P shares' after-tax returns shown.

Total return UBS Asset Growth Annual Total Returns of Class P Shares (2008 is the Fund's first full year of operations)
Bar Chart

Total return January 1 - September 30, 2014: 4.47%
Best quarter during calendar years shown—2Q 2009: 33.02%
Worst quarter during calendar years shown—4Q 2008: (29.77)%

Average annual total returns (figures reflect sales charges) (for the periods ended December 31, 2013)
Average Annual Returns UBS Asset Growth Fund
Average Annual Returns, 1 Year
Average Annual Returns, 5 Years
Average Annual Returns, Since Inception
Average Annual Returns, Inception Date
Class A
7.58% 13.90% (0.09%) Jul. 26, 2007
Class C
11.95% 14.33% 0.03% Jul. 26, 2007
Class P
14.10% 15.44% 1.03% Jul. 26, 2007
After Taxes on Distributions Class P
13.90% 14.41% 0.24%  
After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares Class P
8.13% 12.15% 0.60%  
MSCI World Free Index (net)
26.68% 15.02% 3.14%