VANECK VECTORSä MORTGAGE REIT INCOME ETF
Ticker: MORT®
Principal U.S. Listing Exchange: NYSE Arca, Inc.
SUMMARY PROSPECTUS
SEPTEMBER 1, 2015, as revised on MAY 1, 2016
MORTSUM
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 online at http://www.vaneck.com/ library/etfs/. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800.826.2333, or by sending an email request to info@vaneck.com. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated September 1, 2015, as supplemented, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus.
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
VanEck Vectors Mortgage REIT Income ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVISä Global Mortgage REITs Index (the “Mortgage REITs Index”).
FUND FEES AND EXPENSES
The following tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund (“Shares”).
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Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
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None |
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Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
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Management Fee |
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0.40 |
% |
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Other Expenses |
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0.11 |
% |
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Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(a) |
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0.51 |
% |
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Fee Waivers and Expense Reimbursement(a) |
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-0.10 |
% |
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Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and Expense Reimbursement(a) |
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0.41 |
% |
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(a) |
Van Eck Associates Corporation (the “Adviser”) has agreed to waive fees and/or pay Fund expenses to the extent necessary to prevent the operating expenses of the Fund (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, interest expense, offering costs, trading expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 0.40% of the Fund’s average daily net assets per year until at least September 1, 2016. During such time, the expense limitation is expected to continue until the Fund’s Board of Trustees acts to discontinue all or a portion of such expense limitation. |
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EXPENSE EXAMPLE
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. This example does not take into account brokerage commissions that you pay when purchasing or selling Shares of the Fund.
The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% annual return and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
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YEAR |
EXPENSES |
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1 |
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$ |
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42 |
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3 |
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$ |
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153 |
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5 |
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$ |
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275 |
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10 |
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$ |
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631 |
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PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
The Fund will pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it purchases and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover will cause the Fund to incur additional transaction costs and may result in higher taxes
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when Fund Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, may affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 29% of the average value of its portfolio.
PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
The Fund normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in securities that comprise the Fund’s benchmark index. While publicly traded U.S. and non-U.S. real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) that derive at least 50% of their revenues (or, where applicable, have at least 50% of their assets) from mortgage-related activity are eligible for inclusion in the Mortgage REITs Index, as of the date of this Prospectus, the Mortgage REITs Index is comprised of stocks of publicly traded U.S. REITs that derive at least 50% of their revenues (or, where applicable, have at least 50% of their assets) from mortgage-related activity. A mortgage REIT makes loans to developers and owners of properties and invests primarily in mortgages and similar real estate interests, and includes companies or trusts that are primarily engaged in the purchasing or servicing of commercial or residential mortgage loans or mortgage-related securities, which may include mortgage-backed securities issued by private issuers and those issued or guaranteed by U.S. Government agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored entities. The Mortgage REITs Index may include small-capitalization and medium-capitalization companies. As of June 30, 2015, the Mortgage REITs Index included 24 securities of companies with a market capitalization range of between approximately $293.6 million and $8.7 billion and a weighted average market capitalization of $3.4 billion. The Fund’s 80% investment policy is non-fundamental and may be changed without shareholder approval upon 60 days’ prior written notice to shareholders.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, attempts to approximate the investment performance of the Mortgage REITs Index by investing in a portfolio of securities that generally replicates the Mortgage REITs Index.
The Fund may concentrate its investments in a particular industry or group of industries to the extent that the Mortgage REITs Index concentrates in an industry or group of industries. As of April 30, 2015, the Mortgage REITs Index was concentrated in the financial services sector.
PRINCIPAL RISKS OF INVESTING IN THE FUND
Investors in the Fund should be willing to accept a high degree of volatility in the price of the Fund’s Shares and the possibility of significant losses. An investment in the Fund involves a substantial degree of risk. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit with a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Therefore, you should consider carefully the following risks before investing in the Fund, each of which could significantly and adversely affect the value of an investment in the Fund.
Risk of Investing in Mortgage REITs. Mortgage REITs are exposed to the risks specific to the real estate market as well as the risks that relate specifically to the way in which mortgage REITs are organized and operated. Mortgage REITs receive principal and interest payments from the owners of the mortgaged properties. Accordingly, mortgage REITs are subject to the credit risk of the borrowers. Credit risk refers to the possibility that the borrower will be unable and/or unwilling to make timely interest payments and/or repay the principal on the loan to a mortgage REIT when due. To the extent that a mortgage REIT invests in mortgage-backed securities offered by private issuers, such as commercial banks, savings and loan institutions, private mortgage insurance companies, mortgage bankers and other secondary market issuers, the mortgage REIT may be subject to additional risks. Timely payment of interest and principal of non-governmental issuers may be supported by various forms of private insurance or guarantees, including individual loan, title, pool and hazard insurance purchased by the issuer. However, there can be no assurance that the private insurers can or will meet their obligations under such policies. Unexpected high rates of default on the mortgages held by a mortgage pool may adversely affect the value of a mortgage-backed security and could result in losses to a mortgage REIT. The risk of such defaults is generally higher in the case of mortgage pools that include subprime mortgages. To the extent that a mortgage REIT’s portfolio is exposed to lower-rated, unsecured or subordinated instruments, the risk of loss may increase, which may have a negative impact on the Fund. Mortgage REITs also are subject to the risk that the value of mortgaged properties may be less than the amounts owed on the properties. If a mortgage REIT is required to foreclose on a borrower, the amount recovered in connection with the foreclosure may be less than the amount owed to the mortgage REIT.
Mortgage REITs are subject to significant interest rate risk. Interest rate risk refers to fluctuations in the value of a mortgage REIT’s investment in fixed rate obligations resulting from changes in the general level of interest rates. When the general level of interest rates goes up, the value of a mortgage REIT’s investment in fixed rate obligations goes down.
Mortgage REITs typically use leverage and many are highly leveraged, which exposes them to leverage risk and the risks generally associated with debt financing. Leverage risk refers to the risk that leverage created from borrowing may impair a mortgage REIT’s liquidity, cause it to liquidate positions at an unfavorable time and increase the volatility of the values of securities issued by the mortgage REIT. The use of leverage may not be advantageous to a mortgage REIT. The success of using leverage is dependent on whether the return earned on the investments made using the proceeds of leverage exceed the cost of using leverage. To the extent that a mortgage REIT incurs significant leverage, it may incur substantial losses if its borrowing costs increase. Borrowing costs may increase for any of the following reasons: short-term interest rates increase;
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the market value of a mortgage REIT’s assets decrease; interest rate volatility increases; or the availability of financing in the market decreases. During periods of adverse market conditions, downturns in the economy or deterioration in the conditions of the REIT’s mortgage-related assets, the use of leverage may cause a mortgage REIT to lose more money that would have been the case if leverage was not used.
Mortgage REITs are subject to prepayment risk, which is the risk that borrowers may prepay their mortgage loans at faster than expected rates. Prepayment rates generally increase when interest rates fall and decrease when interest rates rise. These faster than expected payments may adversely affect a mortgage REIT’s profitability because the mortgage REIT may be forced to replace investments that have been redeemed or repaid early with other investments having a lower yield. Additionally, rising interest rates rise may cause the duration of a mortgage REIT’s investments to be longer than anticipated and increase such investments’ interest rate sensitivity.
REITs are subject to special U.S. federal tax requirements. A REIT’s failure to comply with these requirements may negatively affect its performance.
Mortgage REITs may be dependent upon the management skills and may have limited financial resources. Mortgage REITs are generally not diversified and may be subject to heavy cash flow dependency, default by borrowers and self-liquidation. In addition, transactions between mortgage REITs and their affiliates may be subject to conflicts of interest which may adversely affect a mortgage REIT’s shareholders.
Equity Securities Risk. The value of the equity securities held by the Fund may fall due to general market and economic conditions, perceptions regarding the markets in which the issuers of securities held by the Fund participate, or factors relating to specific issuers in which the Fund invests. Equity securities are subordinated to preferred securities and debt in a company’s capital structure with respect to priority in right to a share of corporate income, and therefore will be subject to greater dividend risk than preferred securities or debt instruments. In addition, while broad market measures of equity securities have historically generated higher average returns than fixed income securities, equity securities have generally also experienced significantly more volatility in those returns, although under certain market conditions fixed income securities may have comparable or greater price volatility.
Risk of Investing in the Financial Services Sector. To the extent that the Mortgage REITs Index continues to be concentrated in the financial services sector, the Fund will be sensitive to changes in, and its performance will depend to a greater extent on, the overall condition of the financial services sector. Companies in the financial services sector may be subject to extensive government regulation that affects the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge and the amount of capital they must maintain. The profitability of companies in the financial services sector may be adversely affected by increases in interest rates, by loan losses, which usually increase in economic downturns, and by credit rating downgrades. In addition, the financial services sector is undergoing numerous changes, including continuing consolidations, development of new products and structures and changes to its regulatory framework. Furthermore, some companies in the financial services sector perceived as benefitting from government intervention in the past may be subject to future government-imposed restrictions on their businesses or face increased government involvement in their operations. Increased government involvement in the financial services sector, including measures such as taking ownership positions in financial institutions, could result in a dilution of the Fund’s investments in financial institutions. Recent developments in the credit markets may cause companies operating in the financial services sector to incur large losses, experience declines in the value of their assets and even cease operations.
Risk of Investing in Small- and Medium-Capitalization Companies. Small- and medium-capitalization companies may be more volatile and more likely than large-capitalization companies to have narrower product lines, fewer financial resources, less management depth and experience and less competitive strength. In addition, these companies often have greater price volatility, lower trading volume and less liquidity than larger more established companies. Returns on investments in securities of small-capitalization and medium-capitalization companies could trail the returns on investments in securities of large-capitalization companies.
Issuer-Specific Changes Risk. The value of an individual security or particular type of security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole, especially if the Fund’s portfolio is concentrated in a country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. The value of securities of smaller issuers can be more volatile than that of larger issuers.
Market Risk. The prices of the securities in the Fund are subject to the risk associated with investing in the securities market, including general economic conditions and sudden and unpredictable drops in value. An investment in the Fund may lose money.
Index Tracking Risk. The Fund’s return may not match the return of the Mortgage REITs Index for a number of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs a number of operating expenses not applicable to the Mortgage REITs Index and incurs costs associated with buying and selling securities, especially when rebalancing the Fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the composition of the Mortgage REITs Index. The Fund also bears the costs and risks associated with buying and selling securities while such costs are not factored into the return of the Mortgage REITs Index. In addition, the Fund may not be
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able to invest in certain securities included in the Mortgage REITs Index, or invest in them in the exact proportions they represent of the Mortgage REITs Index, due to legal restrictions or limitations imposed by the governments of certain countries or a lack of liquidity on stock exchanges in which such securities trade, potential adverse tax consequences or other regulatory reasons (such as diversification requirements). The Fund is expected to value certain of its investments based on fair value prices. To the extent the Fund calculates its net asset value (“NAV”) based on fair value prices and the value of the Mortgage REITs Index is based on securities’ closing prices (i.e., the value of the Mortgage REITs Index is not based on fair value prices), the Fund’s ability to track the Mortgage REITs Index may be adversely affected. For tax efficiency purposes, the Fund may sell certain securities, and such sale may cause the Fund to realize a loss and deviate from the performance of the Mortgage REITs Index. In light of the factors discussed above, the Fund’s return may deviate significantly from the return of the Mortgage REITs Index.
Replication Management Risk. An investment in the Fund involves risks similar to those of investing in any fund of equity securities traded on an exchange, such as market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic and political developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in security prices. However, because the Fund is not “actively” managed, unless a specific security is removed from the Mortgage REITs Index, the Fund generally would not sell a security because the security’s issuer was in financial trouble. Therefore, the Fund’s performance could be lower than funds that may actively shift their portfolio assets to take advantage of market opportunities or to lessen the impact of a market decline or a decline in the value of one or more issuers.
Premium/Discount Risk. Disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for Shares may result in Shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases Shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells Shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.
Non-Diversified Risk. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified” investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). Therefore, the Fund may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers or may invest a larger proportion of its assets in obligations of a single issuer. As a result, the gains and losses on a single investment may have a greater impact on the Fund’s NAV and may make the Fund more volatile than more diversified funds. The Fund may be particularly vulnerable to this risk because the Mortgage REITs Index it seeks to replicate is comprised of securities of a very limited number of companies.
Concentration Risk. The Fund’s assets may be concentrated in a particular sector or sectors or industry or group of industries to the extent the Mortgage REITs Index concentrates in a particular sector or sectors or industry or group of industries. To the extent the Mortgage REITs Index continues to be concentrated in the financial services sector, the Fund will be subject to the risk that economic, political or other conditions that have a negative effect on that sector will negatively impact the Fund to a greater extent than if the Fund’s assets were invested in a wider variety of sectors or industries.
PERFORMANCE
The bar chart that follows shows how the Fund performed for the calendar years shown. The table below the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual returns (before and after taxes). The bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing the Fund’s performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns for the one year and since inception periods compared with the Fund’s benchmark index. All returns assume reinvestment of dividends and distributions. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available online at www.vaneck.com.
Annual Total Returns (%)—Calendar Years
The year-to-date total return as of June 30, 2015 was -2.07%.
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Best Quarter: |
22.07% |
1Q ’13 |
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Worst Quarter: |
-14.23% |
2Q ’13 |
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Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2014
The after-tax returns presented in the table below are calculated using the highest historical individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from those shown below. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Shares of the Fund through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
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Past One Year |
Since Inception |
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VanEck Vectors Mortgage REIT Income ETF (return before taxes) |
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20.92 |
% |
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9.71 |
% |
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VanEck Vectors Mortgage REIT Income ETF (return after taxes on distributions) |
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16.03 |
% |
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5.76 |
% |
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VanEck Vectors Mortgage REIT Income ETF (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund Shares) |
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11.75 |
% |
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5.91 |
% |
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MVIS Global Mortgage REITs Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes, except foreign withholding taxes) |
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14.62 |
% |
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7.44 |
% |
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PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
Investment Adviser. Van Eck Associates Corporation.
Portfolio Managers. The following individuals are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund’s portfolio:
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Name |
Title with Adviser |
Date Began Managing the Fund |
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Hao-Hung (Peter) Liao |
Portfolio Manager |
August 2011 |
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George Chao |
Portfolio Manager |
August 2011 |
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PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Fund issues and redeems Shares at NAV only in a large specified number of Shares, each called a “Creation Unit,” or multiples thereof. A Creation Unit consists of 50,000 Shares.
Individual Shares of the Fund may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers. Shares of the Fund are listed on NYSE Arca and because Shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, Shares of the Fund may trade at a price greater than or less than NAV.
TAX INFORMATION
The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
The Adviser and its related companies may pay broker-dealers or other financial intermediaries (such as a bank) for the sale of the Fund Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing your broker-dealer or other intermediary or its employees or associated persons to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your financial adviser or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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800.826.2333
vaneck.com
(05/16)