Nationwide Funds Group launches new alternatives allocation fund
New fund provides access to seven alternative asset classes
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 25, 2011
Contacts:
Erica Lewis (614) 249-0184
lewise6@nationwide.com
Jeff Whetzel (614) 249-6354
whetzej@nationwide.com
King of Prussia, Pa. — Nationwide Funds Group today announced the launch of the Nationwide Alternatives Allocation Fund (NWAAX), a new mutual fund offering investors a strategic, diversified and lower-cost approach to investing in alternative asset classes. The fund was created to help investors manage overall portfolio risk with one fund.
To accomplish this goal, the fund seeks to provide total return by passively investing in a professionally selected mix of seven alternative asset classes. These alternative asset classes generally have different return patterns than the broad U.S. stock and bond markets and can help investors create more efficient portfolios by providing them with additional diversification benefits. The fund’s alternative investments include global real estate, emerging market debt, emerging market stocks, commodities, TIPS, international bonds and high-yield bonds.
"Investors are increasingly looking for new, lower-cost ways to decrease volatility in their portfolios. The Nationwide Alternatives Allocation Fund offers a professionally managed, packaged solution for gaining exposure to a variety of nontraditional asset classes and markets that are proven to help improve the risk-return profile of a traditional investment portfolio," said Michael Spangler, president of the Investment Management Group for Nationwide Financial.
“With our experience in developing and delivering long-term investment solutions, Nationwide is uniquely positioned to bring this type of solution to market,” added Spangler. “We believe this new fund will make it easier and more efficient for financial professionals to build better, more diversified portfolios for their clients.”
The fund is subadvised by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, a leader in global asset management with more than $717 billion in assets under management.1
The Nationwide Alternatives Allocation Fund A Shares require a minimum investment of $2,000, and are expected to have an annual expense ratio of 0.90 percent. The fund will also be offered in Institutional, Institutional Service and C share classes.
Investors interested in learning more about Nationwide Alternatives Allocation Fund should contact their financial professional or visit the website. Financial professionals interested in learning more should call the Nationwide Funds sales desk at 877-877-5083, option 3.
About Nationwide
Nationwide, based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest
diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the U.S.
and is rated A+ by A.M. Best. The company provides a full range of
personalized insurance and financial services, including auto insurance,
motorcycle, boat, homeowners, life insurance, farm, commercial
insurance, administrative services, annuities, mortgages, mutual funds,
pensions and long-term savings plans. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.
About Nationwide Funds Group
Nationwide Funds Group is the mutual fund business of Nationwide
Financial Services, Inc., a leading provider of long-term savings and
retirement products. Nationwide Funds Group is based in the Philadelphia
area and offers a wide range of sub-advised mutual funds. As of March 31,
2011, Nationwide Funds Group managed approximately $40.0 billion in
assets.
1 Firmwide AUM includes assets managed by GSAM and its investment advisory affiliates as December 31, 2010.
Important Disclosures
Investing in mutual funds involves risk, including the possible loss of
principal. Portfolio composition is subject to change at any time and
without notice. The holdings are provided for informational purposes only
and should not be deemed as a recommendation to buy or sell the
securities shown.
Investors should carefully consider a fund’s investment objectives, risks, fees, charges and expenses before investing any money. To obtain this and other information on Nationwide Funds, please call 1-800-848-0920 to request a summary prospectus and/or a prospectus, or download a summary prospectus and/or a prospectus at nationwide.com/mutualfunds. Please read it carefully before investing any money.
Asset allocation is the process of spreading assets across several different investment styles and asset classes. The Fund is designed to provide asset allocation across several types of alternative investments in an attempt to achieve investment performance that often has a low correlation to the performance of more traditional investments. The Fund consists of separate sleeves to represent the investments in each of the different asset classes.
Each sleeve invests in securities and derivatives with the goal of matching the performance of a specified asset class index. Although each sleeve may invest in the securities included in its respective index, each of the international bonds, high-yield bonds, emerging market bonds and emerging market stocks sleeves invests primarily in derivatives as a substitute for investing in such securities in an attempt to synthetically replicate the performance of the sleeve’s index.
Instead of investing directly in physical commodities, the commodities sleeve invests in commodity linked notes, commodity futures and commodity-linked swaps, all of which are derivatives. Investing in commodities and commodities-linked investments may expose the Fund to increased volatility and decreased liquidity due to several factors, including changes in supply-and-demand relationships; weather; agriculture; disease; fiscal and exchange control programs; and international economic, political, military and regulatory developments.
Derivatives can increase losses and reduce opportunities for gains when the security or commodity prices, currency values, index values, interest rates or other such measures underlying the instruments change in unexpected ways. Derivatives also present default risks if the counterparty to a derivatives contract fails to fulfill its obligations to the Fund.
In addition, the Fund is subject to specific investment risks such as those associated with: (i) bonds and high-yield bonds, (ii) international and emerging market securities, and (iii) real estate investment trusts (REITs).
The Fund is a non-diversified fund, which means that a relatively high percentage of the Fund’s assets may be invested in a limited number of issuers.
The Nationwide Alternatives Allocation Fund is subject to a number of risks and may not be suitable for all investors. The Fund is not intended to serve as a complete investment program. There is no assurance that the investment objective of any fund will be achieved.
Life insurance is issued by Nationwide Life Insurance Company or Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio.
Nationwide, Nationwide Financial, the Nationwide framemark, Nationwide YourLife and On Your Side are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.
