Q:  What is the history of the fund? A : The Artio Global Equity Fund was formed back in 2004 and is a diversified portfolio of developed and emerging market equities. The fund invests in both growth and value securities and is not constrained by any particular investment style. Typically, the Fund invests in mid- and large-capitalization companies but does have the capability to invest in small-cap names as well. The global nature of the Fund provides what we believe to be the broadest universe of investment opportunities for shareholders. We also see global equity funds as providing an effective platform to capitalize on macroeconomic and industry trends such as rising increasing domestic consumption in emerging markets, higher commodity prices due to demand from developing countries, new technological innovations, or shifting global demographics. Q:  What is the fund’s investment objective? A : Our mandate in the Fund is to go anywhere in the world to locate securities that will maximize total return principally through capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to meet this goal by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of common stocks, preferred stocks and convertible securities of both domestic and foreign issuers of all sizes. Q:  Where do you currently see the drivers of the global economy? A : Our view is that the world economy is on a two-speed recovery, with emerging markets outpacing developed nations. Most of the developed world is faced with a number of structural economic problems – growing deficits, indebted consumers, rising unemployment and in many areas deteriorating demographics. But the belief is that the global economy will continue to recover this year with the tailwind of monetary and fiscal stimulus helping markets. In the US, which accounts for a large weighting in both the Fund and its benchmark, the MSCI ACWI, the Federal Reserve’s easy monetary policy along with strong corporate cash flows and balance sheets bodes well for the domestic market. Given that emerging markets are becoming increasingly important in the global economy, we have positioned the Fund to take advantage of that in a number of ways. This includes direct investments in countries such as China, Russia, India and South Korea as well as gaining exposure from US and European companies with world-class franchises at attractive valuations and exposure to emerging markets. Q:  What are some of the main negative factors affecting growth in the global markets? A : Prior to the terrible tragedy in Japan, we viewed the country as having a challenging combination of population demographics (a shrinking and aging population), very high levels of government debt and an overdependence on exports. It’s still too early to tell what will happen, but given that the country’s national debt was more than twice GDP before the earthquake and was largely held by Japanese banks, if sovereign credit comes into question, it could have even more serious ramifications for the country. On the positive side, Japanese consumer demand is expected to rise significantly as people need to replace their destroyed belongings, things like cars, appliances and clothing. Hopefully, Japanese companies will be able to meet the country’s needs as well as continue to export their products, but if not, it could be an opportunity for other global players. Meanwhile, in Continental Europe the sovereign debt problems are not going away and the banking sector is coming under pressure. Aggregate European bank exposure to sovereign de