Investment advisor: UBS Asset Management (Americas) Inc.
Launch date: 1/15/2020
Expense ratio: 0.14% – 0.18%, depending on share class
Fundamental investment strategy:
The fund is a money market fund that calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) to four decimals (e.g., $1.0000) using market-based pricing. As a result, its share price will fluctuate. The fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in a diversified portfolio of high quality money market instruments of governmental and private issuers while incorporating fundamental sustainability factors, such as ESG performance of such issuers, into the investment process. Money market instruments may include:
• short-term obligations of the US government and its agencies and instrumentalities;
• repurchase agreements;
• obligations of issuers in the financial services group of industries;
• commercial paper, other corporate obligations and asset-backed securities; and
• municipal money market instruments.
Money market instruments are short-term debt obligations and similar securities. They also may include longer-term bonds that have variable interest rates or other special features that give them the financial characteristics of short-term debt. The fund invests in foreign money market instruments only if they are denominated in US dollars. The fund will, under normal circumstances, invest more than 25% of its total assets in the financial services group of industries.
In addition, under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowing for investment purposes), determined at the time of purchase, in securities that meet UBS AM’s sustainability criteria. In developing its sustainability criteria, UBS AM draws upon firm-wide resources of the UBS Asset Management Division of UBS Group AG, of which UBS AM is a member.
UBS AM conducts its own credit analyses of potential investments and portfolio holdings, and relies substantially on a dedicated proprietary credit research team. The ESG aspect of UBS AM’s credit analyses and credit research process is applied to all portfolio investments and portfolio holdings. Embedded in the credit research process is the integration of issuer-level sustainability investing analysis as guided by the UBS Asset Management Division’s approach to sustainability and/or ESG research and evaluation methodology. The sustainability investing analysis provides a more comprehensive approach to security selection than credit analysis alone as internal and external ESG ratings are applied to evaluate the quality of sustainability practices employed by issuers. Analysts rate and maintain internal fundamental credit and ESG ratings, which are a component of the portfolio construction/optimization approach and focus on issuers that contribute to the fund’s ESG profile. In determining an issuer’s ESG ratings, analysts will evaluate whether, at the time of the fund’s investment, such issuers have better than average performance in ESG practices and managing sustainability and/or ESG risks by reviewing, among other factors, such considerations as the issuer’s environmental responsibility, human rights and labor standards, diversity and inclusion in employment and corporate governance based on proprietary and third-party data. UBS AM also will employ a negative screening process with regard to security selection, which will exclude from the fund’s portfolio securities or sectors that manufacture products or engage in business activities viewed as having a negative social or environmental impact. Such products or business activities include certain controversial weapons, natural resource extraction activities, thermal coal power generation, and certain controversial behavior and business activities as well as the failure of a portfolio company to meet certain engagement objectives identified by UBS AM. UBS AM’s portfolio construction process aims to align investments in money market instruments with the concept of sustainability (i.e., the potential for long-term maintenance of environmental, economic and social well-being).
The fund invests in securities through an underlying master fund. The fund and its corresponding master fund have the same objective. Unless otherwise indicated, references to the fund include the master fund.
The fund may be subject to the possible imposition of a liquidity fee and/or temporary redemption gate should certain triggering events occur.
Sustainable investing approach:
UBS Asset Management (Americas) Inc. (“UBS AM”) acts as the investment advisor. As investment advisor, UBS AM makes the fund’s investment decisions. UBS AM selects money market instruments for the fund based on its assessment of relative values and changes in market and economic conditions.
UBS AM considers safety of principal and liquidity in selecting securities for the fund and thus may not buy securities that pay the highest yield.
UBS AM is part of the UBS Asset Management Division of UBS Group AG. The UBS Asset Management Division, at the global level, seeks to be a leader in incorporating sustainability into its management process and honors various commitments in the sustainability investing industry. Active commitments include:
• Participant in the UN Global Compact since its inception in 2000
• Independent assurance of the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) based sustainability disclosure
• UBS Asset Management signatory to Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
• Global Initiative for Sustainability Ratings steering committee
• Sustainability Accounting Standards BoardTM
• The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investing
Notes of Explanation: For mutual funds, expense ratio may vary by share class and launch date applies to the listing of the earliest share class. Sources: Fund prospectus or other offering document, as disclosed.
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