The Fund’s investment objective is pursued through a “Value, Yield-Advantage” strategy (as described in more detail below) through investment in public real estate securities, which may include equity real estate investment trusts (a “REIT” or “REITs”), mortgage REITs, REIT preferreds, and other publicly traded companies whose primary business is in the real estate industry. This strategy often leads to investment in smaller capitalization companies (under $1B).  The composition of the portfolio does not seek to mimic equity REIT indices.

Under normal conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities of companies principally engaged in the real estate industry and other real estate related investments. Equity securities can consist of shares of REITs, and securities issued by other companies principally engaged in the real estate industry. Equity securities can also include securities convertible into common stocks where the conversion feature represents, in the Adviser’s view, a significant element of a security’s value, and preferred stocks.

The Fund considers a company to be principally engaged in the real estate industry if it either (i) derives at least 50% of its revenues from the ownership, construction, financing, management or sale of commercial or residential real estate or (ii) has at least 50% of its assets in real estate or such real estate businesses. These include securities issued by REITs and real estate operating companies. The Fund does not invest in real estate directly.

The Value, Yield-Advantage strategy seeks to invest in companies that in the Adviser’s view have (i) underlying real estate assets that are trading at a discount to the private market value of such assets and (ii) have an above-average dividend yield or strong free cash flow. The Adviser screens its universe of real estate securities for a number of proprietary valuation, income, and balance sheet metrics to identify candidates for investment. This process is combined with in-depth industry and company - specific research to narrow the investment options for the Fund. The Fund may invest in companies without regard to their market capitalization. The Fund’s strategy is an all-cap strategy which means that investments are made without regard to a company’s market capitalization. The Fund’s investment process is indifferent to index weightings, which generally results in a portfolio that is differentiated by company names and percentage exposures. The portfolio of securities in which the Fund invests will normally be U.S. issuers that are considered by the Adviser to be undervalued relative to the value of the underlying real estate.

In executing its investment strategy, the Fund may use leverage, i.e., borrow money for investing, for the purpose of enhancing returns and meeting operating expenses and redemption requests while maintaining investment capacity. When the Fund borrows, it will maintain varying levels of leverage depending on factors such as the price of a particular security relative to the underlying real estate associated with that security and the returns of the security relative to the interest expense of the Fund. The amount of leverage may not exceed 33-1/3% of the Fund’s total assets less its liabilities other than borrowings. The Adviser is most likely to employ the use of leverage during periods when it believes it will obtain a greater return than the cost of borrowing, and when the Adviser believes that the securities are trading at a discount to their underlying real estate value.  Notwithstanding this expectation, the Fund will not use leverage, or will use leverage to a lesser extent, if the Adviser anticipates that leveraged assets in the Fund would result in lower returns to shareholders. The Adviser may also purchase securities for which there is a limited liquid market or companies with limited operating histories.

The Fund may take short positions totaling up to 30% of the Fund’s total assets.  The Adviser is most likely to use shorting to protect accumulated unrealized gains, or to take advantage of special situations where, in the Adviser’s view, the investment’s fundamental outlook is believed poor relative to its current valuation. Short sales may occur if the Adviser determines an event is likely to have downward impact on the market price of a company’s securities. The Adviser may short either individual securities and/or index funds when appropriate.

While both leverage and shorting are permitted, neither is required to execute the Fund’s Value, Yield-Advantage investment process. The Fund is long biased, which means that on a net basis that it will have more exposure to long positions in its portfolio than short positions.

The remainder of the Fund’s assets will be invested in cash or short-term investments or securities of real estate operating companies that may pay little or no dividends.