The Portfolio invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in securities of companies in emerging markets. For purposes of this policy, net assets include any borrowings for investment purposes. Issuers of these securities may be large-, mid- or small-capitalization companies.

AllianceBernstein L.P., the Portfolio’s investment manager (the “Manager”), determines which countries are emerging-market countries. In general, these are the countries considered to be developing countries by the international financial community and include those countries considered by MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) to have an “emerging or frontier stock market.” Examples of emerging and frontier market countries include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

The investment team allocates the Portfolio’s investments among broad sector groups based on the fundamental company research conducted by the Manager’s internal research staff, assessing the current and forecasted investment opportunities and conditions, as well as diversification and risk considerations. The Portfolio may own stocks selected using the Manager’s bottom-up research in value, growth, core and other investment style disciplines. The Manager may allocate assets to companies in different targeted ranges of market capitalization. The Manager relies on both fundamental and quantitative research to manage risk and return for the Portfolio.

The Portfolio may invest in companies of any size. The Portfolio invests primarily in common stocks, but may also invest in preferred stocks, warrants and convertible securities of foreign issuers, including sponsored or unsponsored American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) and Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”).

Under most conditions, the Portfolio intends to have its assets invested among multiple emerging-market countries, although the Portfolio may also invest in more developed country markets. In allocating the Portfolio’s assets among emerging-market countries, the Manager considers such factors as the geographical distribution of the Portfolio, the sizes of the stock markets represented and the various key economic characteristics of the countries. However, the Portfolio may not necessarily be diversified on a geographical basis. The Manager also considers the transaction costs and volatility of each individual market.

The Portfolio may enter into foreign currency transactions for hedging and non-hedging purposes on a spot (i.e., cash) basis or through the use of derivatives transactions, such as forward currency exchange contracts, currency futures and options thereon, and options on currencies. An appropriate hedge of currency exposure resulting from the Portfolio’s securities positions may not be available or cost effective, or the Manager may determine not to hedge the positions, possibly even under market conditions where doing so could benefit the Portfolio. The Portfolio generally invests in foreign-currency futures contracts or foreign-currency forward contracts with terms of up to one year. The Portfolio also purchases foreign currency for immediate settlement in order to purchase foreign securities. In addition, the Portfolio may invest a portion of its uncommitted cash balances in futures contracts on securities or baskets of securities to expose that portion of the Portfolio to the equity markets. The Portfolio may use derivatives, such as options, futures contracts, forward contracts and swaps. The Portfolio may use options strategies involving the purchase and/or writing of various combinations of call and/or put options, including on individual securities and stock indices, futures contracts (including futures contracts on individual securities and stock indices) or shares of exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”). These transactions may be used, for example, in an effort to earn extra income, to adjust exposure to individual securities or markets, or to protect all or a portion of the Portfolio from a decline in value, sometimes within certain ranges.