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 and other information about the Fund, including the Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) and most recent reports to shareholders, online at http://hosted.rightprospectus.com/Jackson/CurianVariableSeriesTrust. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-873-5654 (Annuity and Life Service Center), 1-800-599-5651 (NY Annuity and Life Service Center), 1-800-777-7779
(for contracts purchased through a bank or financial institution) or 1-888-464-7779 (for NY contracts purchased through a bank or financial institution), or by sending an email request to ProspectusRequest@jackson.com. The current Prospectus and SAI, both dated April 30, 2012, are incorporated by reference into (which means it legally is a part of) this Summary Prospectus.
Investment Objectives. The investment objective of the Curian/Epoch Global Shareholder Yield Fund (the “Fund”) is to seek a high level of income. Capital appreciation is a secondary objective.
Expenses. This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund.
The expenses do not reflect the expenses of the variable insurance contracts or the separate account, whichever may be applicable and the total expenses would be higher if they were included.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees
0.70%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
0.25%
Other Expenses1
0.22%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
1.17%
1 “Other Expenses” include an Administrative Fee of 0.20% which is payable to Curian Capital, LLC and are based on estimated amounts for the initial fiscal year.
Expense 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. Also, this example does not reflect the expenses of the variable insurance contracts or the separate account, whichever may be applicable, and the total expenses would be higher if they were included. The table below shows the expenses you would pay on a $10,000 investment, assuming (1) a 5% annual return and (2) redemption at the end of each time period. The example also assumes 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:
1 year
3 years
$119
$372
Portfolio Turnover (% of average value of portfolio). 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. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the expense example, affect the Fund’s performance. The Fund does not have a portfolio turnover rate as of the date of this Prospectus as it has not completed a fiscal year.
Principal Investment Strategies. The Fund generally invests in a diversified portfolio consisting of equity securities of companies located throughout the world, including the U.S., that have a history of attractive dividend yields and positive growth in free cash flow. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets (net assets plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of dividend-paying companies across all market capitalizations. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in securities issued by companies located in emerging markets when the Fund’s sub-adviser (the “Sub-Adviser”) believes they represent attractive investment opportunities. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in investment grade fixed-income securities in U.S. and international markets. Securities held by the Fund may be denominated in both U.S.
and non-U.S. currencies. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest a significant amount of its net assets (at least 40%, unless the Sub-Adviser deems market conditions to be unfavorable, in which case the Fund will invest at least 30%) in securities of foreign companies. Generally, foreign companies are companies organized outside the U.S. and that trade primarily in non-U.S. securities markets. The Fund will normally invest in companies located in at least three countries outside of the U.S. The Fund’s goal is to produce an efficient portfolio on a risk/return basis with a dividend yield that exceeds the dividend yield of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (“MSCI”) World Index.
The Sub-Adviser invests primarily in companies that generate increasing levels of free cash flow and have managements that use it to create returns for shareholders. The security selection process focuses on free-cash-flow analytics as opposed to traditional accounting-based metrics. The Sub-Adviser seeks to identify companies with a consistent, straightforward ability to both generate free cash flow and to properly allocate it among internal reinvestment opportunities, acquisitions, dividends, share repurchases, and/or debt reduction.
The Sub-Adviser seeks to find and invest in companies that meet its definition of quality – companies that are free cash flow positive or becoming free cash flow positive, that are debt free or deleveraging, and that are led by strong management. The Sub-Adviser evaluates whether a company has a focus on high shareholder yield by analyzing the company’s existing cash dividend, the company’s share repurchase activities, and the company’s debt reduction activities as well as the likelihood of positive changes to each of these criteria, among other factors.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not guaranteed. As with any mutual fund, the value of the Fund’s shares will change, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund.
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Bonds risk – Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of bonds and other debt securities to fall. In addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or refinance a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities. Longer maturity debt securities may be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. Bonds and other debt securities are subject to credit risk, which is the possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest and the security will go into default.
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Credit risk – The Fund could lose money if the issuer or guarantor of a fixed-income security, or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or a loan of portfolio securities, is unable or unwilling to make timely principal and/or interest payments, or to otherwise honor its obligations.
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Currency risk – The Fund’s net asset value (“NAV”) could decline as a result of changes in the exchange rates between foreign currencies and the U.S. dollar. Certain foreign countries may impose restrictions on the ability of issuers of foreign securities to make payment of principal and interest to investors located outside the country, due to blockage of foreign currency exchanges or otherwise.
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Emerging markets risk – Investments in emerging markets involve greater risk resulting from economic and political systems that typically are less developed, and likely to be less stable, than those of more advanced countries. Loss may also result from the imposition of exchange controls, confiscations and other government restrictions or from problems in security registration or settlement and custody. The Fund will also be subject to the risk of negative foreign currency rate fluctuations.
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Equity securities risk –Stock markets are volatile. The price of equity securities will fluctuate and can decline and reduce the value of a portfolio investing in equities. The value of equity securities purchased by the Fund could decline if the financial condition of the companies the Fund invests in decline or if overall market and economic conditions deteriorate. They may also decline due to factors that affect a particular industry or industries, such as labor shortages or an increase in production costs and competitive conditions within an industry. In addition, they may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a company or industry, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the general outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or generally adverse investor sentiment.
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Foreign regulatory risk – The Adviser is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Prudential plc, a publicly traded company incorporated in the United Kingdom and is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial Inc., a company whose principal place of business is in the United States of America. Through its ownership structure, the Adviser has a number of global financial industry affiliated entities. As a result of this structure, and the asset management and financial industry business activities of the Adviser and its affiliates, the Adviser and the Funds may be prohibited or limited in effecting transactions in certain securities. The Adviser and the Funds may encounter trading limitations or restrictions because of aggregation issues or other foreign regulatory requirements. Foreign regulators or foreign laws may impose position limits on securities held by the Funds, and the Funds may be limited as to
which securities they may purchase or sell, as well as, the timing of such purchases or sales. These foreign regulatory limits may increase the Funds’ expenses and may limit the Funds’ performance.
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Foreign securities risk – Investments in foreign securities involve risks not typically associated with U.S. investments. These risks include, among others, adverse fluctuations in foreign currency values as well as adverse political, social and economic developments and possible imposition of foreign withholding taxes on income payable on the securities. In addition, there may be less publicly available information and more volatile or less liquid markets and foreign issuers may not be subject to the same accounting, auditing and financial recordkeeping standards and requirements as domestic issuers.
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Interest rate risk – When interest rates increase, fixed-income securities generally will decline in value. Long-term fixed-income securities normally have more price volatility than short-term fixed-income securities. The value of equity investments, such as utilities and real estate securities, may be sensitive to interest rate changes.
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Investment value style risk – Value stocks may not increase in price if other investors fail to recognize a company’s value or the factors that are expected to increase the price of a security do not occur. In the past, over the long-term, the growth and value stock categories have had similar returns; however, each category sometimes outperforms the other for long periods of time.
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Mid-capitalization investing risk – The prices of securities of mid-capitalization companies tend to fluctuate more widely and erratically than those of larger, more established companies.
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Managed portfolio risk– As an actively managed portfolio, the value of the Fund’s investments could decline because the financial condition of an issuer may change (due to such factors as management performance, reduced demand or overall market changes), financial markets may fluctuate or overall prices may decline, or the manager’s investment techniques could fail to achieve the Fund’s investment objective or negatively affect the Fund’s investment performance.
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Market risk – All forms of securities may decline in value due to factors affecting securities markets generally, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities. The values of securities may fall due to factors affecting a particular issuer, industry or the securities market as a whole.
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Small-capitalization investing risk – Investing in smaller, newer companies generally involves greater risks than investing in larger, more established ones.
Performance. Performance for the Fund has not been included because the Fund has less than one full calendar year of performance. Performance for the Fund will be available once the Fund has completed one full calendar year of operations.
Portfolio Management.
Investment Adviser:
Curian Capital, LLC
Sub-Adviser:
Epoch Investment Partners, Inc. (“Epoch”)
Portfolio Managers:
Name:
Joined
Management
Team In:
Title:
Eric Sappenfield
March 2012
Managing Director and Senior Analyst, Epoch
Michael Welhoelter
March 2012
Managing Director, Epoch
William Priest
March 2012
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chief Investment Officer, Epoch
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
Only separate accounts, registered investment companies, and qualified and non-qualified plans of Jackson National Life Insurance Company (“Jackson”) or Jackson National Life Insurance Company of New York (“Jackson NY”) may purchase shares of the Fund. You may invest indirectly in the Fund through your purchase of a variable annuity contract issued by a separate account of Jackson or Jackson NY, or through a Jackson or Jackson NY fund that invests in this Fund and directly through a qualified or non-qualified plan. Any minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements and redemption procedures are governed by the applicable separate account, registered investment company or plan through which you invest indirectly.
This Fund is not sold to the general public but instead serves as an underlying investment by insurance companies, affiliated investment companies, and retirement plans for funding variable insurance contracts and retirement plans.
Tax Information
Because the Fund’s shareholders are the separate accounts, registered investment companies, and qualified and non-qualified plans of Jackson or Jackson NY, the tax treatment of dividends and distributions will depend on the tax status of Jackson or Jackson NY, the investment companies, and the qualified and non-qualified plans. Accordingly, no discussion is included about the Federal personal income tax consequences to you, the contract owner or plan participant. For this information, you should consult the prospectus of the appropriate separate account or description of the plan and read the discussion of the Federal income tax consequences to variable insurance contract owners and plan participants.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
If you invest in the Fund under a variable insurance contract or a plan 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.
Dates Referenced Herein and Documents Incorporated by Reference
