Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest not less than 80% of its assets in component securities of the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index is designed to track the performance of U.S.-listed, registered closed-end investment companies that have elected to be regulated as “business development companies” (“BDCs”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“1940 Act”), as well as U.S.-listed, non-BDC registered closed-end funds (“closed-end funds” and, together with BDCs, “Underlying Funds”), that provide significant exposure (i.e., at least 50%) to private credit, as defined by Indxx, LLC (“Indxx”), the index provider of the Underlying Index. Indxx is not affiliated with the Fund or the Fund’s investment adviser, Virtus ETF Advisers LLC (the “Adviser”).

To be eligible for inclusion in the Underlying Index, securities must (i) be U.S.-listed, (ii) have a market capitalization of more than U.S. $100 million, (iii) have a six-month average daily turnover greater than or equal to U.S. $250,000, (iv) have traded for at least 90% of the total trading days over the last six months, and (v) must have paid dividends consistently over the previous three years. Securities within this universe are then classified as either closed-end funds or BDCs, and are eligible for inclusion in the Underlying Index depending upon their exposure to private credit:

1.For closed-end funds: The closed-end fund’s portfolio must (i) include investments in floating or variable loan interests, collateralized loan obligations (“CLOs”), senior loans, and/or other investment vehicles that have private credit exposure, and (ii) have private credit exposure of at least 50%.

2.For BDCs: The BDC must have an investment objective of generating both current income and capital appreciation through debt and equity investments in small or middle-market companies by employing private credit strategies. Private credit strategies include providing capital through (i) direct origination of senior secured loans, (ii) unsecured debt, (iii) first/second lien debt, (iv) subordinate debt, (v) mezzanine financing, (vi) preferred equity, (vii) rescue financing, (viii) specialty lending, and (ix) distressed credit. These private credit strategies generally include the origination of loans by non-bank lenders to small- to middle-market companies who have below investment grade credit ratings, or the investment in debt or equity securities of those companies.

All BDCs that meet the selection criteria above will be included in the Underlying Index, and the closed-end fund universe will be screened to eliminate the quartile with the largest absolute value of premiums or discounts. Underlying Index constituents are weighted by dividend yield, with the weight of a single security capped at 5% and a floor of 0.3% at each rebalance, although each BDC with a market capitalization of less than $250 million will be capped at 1% at each rebalance. All BDCs and closed-end funds included in the Underlying Index will be listed on U.S. stock exchanges.

The Underlying Index is reconstituted annually and rebalanced quarterly. The Fund is generally reconstituted and rebalanced in accordance with the Underlying Index.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest not less than 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of U.S.-listed BDCs and closed-end funds that employ private credit strategies by investing a majority of their assets in private credit instruments. Private credit instruments include floating or variable loan interests, CLOs, senior loans, and BDCs and other investment vehicles that employ private credit strategies as described above. The Underlying Funds will invest in private credit instruments that are rated below investment grade.

The Fund will not seek to “beat” the performance of the Underlying Index and will not seek temporary defensive measures when markets decline or appear overvalued. Instead, the Fund uses a “passive” or indexing investment approach to try to approximate the investment performance of the Underlying Index by investing in a portfolio of securities that generally replicates the Underlying Index; however, there may be times when the Fund does not hold every security in the Underlying Index. The Adviser expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund’s performance before fees and expenses and that of the Underlying Index will be 95% or better. A figure of 100% would indicate perfect correlation.

The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., invest more than 25% of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries approximately to the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. As of October 31, 2023, the Underlying Index was concentrated in the financial sector.