SUBADVISORY AGREEMENT
Exhibit (d)(xi)
This SUBADVISORY AGREEMENT is dated as of [ ], 2011, by and between SUNAMERICA ASSET MANAGEMENT CORP., a Delaware corporation (the “Adviser”), and BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company (the “Subadviser”).
WITNESSETH:
WHEREAS, the Adviser and SunAmerica Specialty Series, a Delaware statutory trust (the “Trust”), have entered into an Investment Advisory and Management Agreement dated as of [ ], 2011 (the “Advisory Agreement”) pursuant to which the Adviser has agreed to provide investment management, advisory and administrative services to the Trust; and
WHEREAS, the Trust is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Act”), as an open-end management investment company; and
WHEREAS, the Subadviser is engaged in the business of rendering investment advisory services and is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended; and
WHEREAS, the Adviser desires to retain the Subadviser to furnish investment advisory services to the investment series of the Trust listed on Schedule A attached hereto (each a “Fund” and collectively, the “Funds”), and the Subadviser is willing to furnish such services;
NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby agreed between the parties hereto as follows:
1. Duties of the Subadviser. (a) The Adviser hereby engages the services of the Subadviser in furtherance of its Investment Advisory and Management Agreement with the Trust. Pursuant to this Subadvisory Agreement and subject to the oversight and review of the Adviser, the Subadviser will manage the investment and reinvestment of the assets of the Funds listed on Schedule A attached hereto. The Subadviser will determine in its discretion, and subject to the oversight and review of the Adviser, the securities to be purchased or sold, will provide the Adviser with records concerning its activities which the Adviser or the Trust is required to maintain, and will render regular reports to the Adviser and to officers and Trustees of the Trust as they may reasonably request concerning its discharge of the foregoing responsibilities. The Subadviser shall discharge the foregoing responsibilities subject to the control of the officers and the Trustees of the Trust and in compliance with such policies as the Trustees of the Trust may from time to time establish and communicate to Subadviser, and in compliance with (a) the objectives, policies, and limitations for the Funds set forth in each Fund’s current prospectus and statement of additional information as provided to Subadviser, and (b) applicable laws and regulations.
The Subadviser shall have no power, authority, responsibility, or obligation hereunder to take any action on behalf of a Fund with regard to any claim or potential claim in any bankruptcy proceedings, class action securities litigation, or other litigation or proceeding affecting securities held at any time in a Fund, including, without limitation, to file proofs of claim or other documents related to such proceedings (the “Litigation”), or to investigate, initiate, supervise, or monitor the Litigation involving Fund assets, and the Adviser acknowledges and agrees that no such power,
authority, responsibility or obligation is delegated hereunder. Nevertheless, the Subadviser agrees that it shall provide the Adviser with any and all documentation or information relating to the Litigation as may reasonably be requested by the Adviser.
The Subadviser represents and warrants to the Adviser that it will manage the assets of each Fund, or portion of each Fund’s assets, allocated to it, as set forth in Schedule A, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws governing its operations and investments. Without limiting the foregoing and subject to Section 11(c) hereof, the Subadviser represents and warrants: (1) that the Subadviser’s management of all or a portion of the assets of a Fund will be designed to achieve qualification by the Fund to be treated as a “regulated investment company” under subchapter M, chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”); and (2) compliance with (a) the provisions of the Act and rules adopted thereunder that relate to the investment of Fund assets, including depositing those assets in custody with institutions designated by the Trust, and (b) federal and state securities and commodities laws applicable to Subadviser’s Fund management responsibilities; provided that for purposes of Section 17(a), (d) and (e) of the Act, the Subadviser shall effect compliance only in relation to its own affiliates and to affiliated persons identified to it by the Adviser(c)The Subadviser further represent and warrants to the Adviser that (i) it has obtained all applicable licenses, permits, registrations and approvals that may be required in order to serve in its designated capacities with respect to the Fund, and shall continue to keep current such licenses, permits, registrations and approvals for so long as this Agreement is in effect; (ii) it will immediately notify the Adviser of the occurrence of any event that would disqualify it from serving in its designated capacities with respect to the Fund; (iii) this Agreement has been duly and validly authorized, executed and delivered on behalf of the Subadviser and is a valid and binding agreement of the Subdviser enforceable in accordance with its terms.
The Subadviser further represents and warrants that to the extent any statements or omissions made in any Registration Statement for shares of the Trust, or any amendment or supplement thereto, are made in reliance upon and in conformity with information furnished by the Subadviser expressly for use therein, such Registration Statement and any amendments or supplements thereto will, when they become effective, conform in all material respects to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and the rules and regulations of the Commission thereunder (the “1933 Act”) and the Act and will not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading.
The Subadviser also represents and warrants that in furnishing services hereunder, the Subadviser will not consult with any other subadviser of a Fund or other series of the Trust to the extent any other subadvisers are engaged by the Adviser, or any other subadvisers to other investment companies that are under common control with the Trust, concerning transactions of a Fund in securities or other assets, other than for purposes of complying with the conditions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of rule 12d3-1 under the Act.
The Subadviser accepts such employment and agrees, at its own expense, to render the services set forth herein and to provide the office space, furnishings, equipment and personnel required by it to perform such services on the terms and for the compensation provided in this Agreement The Subadviser shall not be responsible for other expenses of the Fund, including, without limitation, fees of the Fund’s independent public accountants, transfer agent, custodian and other service providers who are not employees of the Subadviser; brokerage commissions and
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other transaction-related expenses; tax reporting; taxes levied against the Fund or any of its property; and interest expenses of the Fund. The Subadviser does not warrant that the investment performance of the portion of the Fund’s assets managed by the Subadviser will match the performance of any index or other benchmark, such as any other account managed by the Subadviser.
(b) The Subadviser agrees: (i) to maintain a level of errors and omissions or professional liability insurance coverage that, at all times during the course of this Agreement, is appropriate given the nature of its business; and (ii) from time to time and upon reasonable request, to supply evidence of such coverage to the Adviser.
2. Fund Transactions. (a) The Subadviser is responsible for: (i) decisions, and is hereby authorized, to buy or sell securities and other investments for the Fund or a portion of the Fund’s assets allotted to it, (ii) selection of broker-dealers, futures commission merchants or other counterparties and (iii) negotiation of brokerage commission, futures commission merchants’ or other counterparties’ rates, as applicable. As a general matter, in executing Fund transactions, the Subadviser may employ or deal with such broker-dealers or futures commission merchants as may, in the Subadviser’s best judgment, provide prompt and reliable execution of the transactions at favorable prices and reasonable commission rates. In selecting such broker-dealers or futures commission merchants, the Subadviser shall consider all relevant factors including price (including the applicable brokerage commission, dealer spread or futures commission merchant rate), the size of the order, the nature of the market for the security or other investment, the timing of the transaction, the reputation, experience and financial stability of the broker-dealer or futures commission merchant involved, the quality of the service, the difficulty of execution, the execution capabilities and operational facilities of the firm involved, and, in the case of trades involving blocks of securities, the firm’s risk in positioning a block of securities. Subject to such policies as the Trustees may determine and consistent with Section 28(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”), the Subadviser shall not be deemed to have acted unlawfully or to have breached any duty created by this Agreement or otherwise solely by reason of the Subadviser’s having caused a Fund to pay a member of an exchange, broker or dealer an amount of commission for effecting a securities transaction in excess of the amount of commission another member of an exchange, broker or dealer would have charged for effecting that transaction, if the Subadviser determines in good faith that such amount of commission was reasonable in relation to the value of the brokerage and research services provided by such member of an exchange, broker or dealer viewed in terms of either that particular transaction or the Subadviser’s overall responsibilities with respect to such Fund and to other clients as to which the Subadviser exercises investment discretion. In accordance with Section 11(a) of the 1934 Act and Rule 11a2-2(T) thereunder, and subject to any other applicable laws and regulations including Section 17(e) of the Act and Rule 17e-1 thereunder, the Subadviser may engage its affiliates, the Adviser and its affiliates or any other subadviser to the Trust and its respective affiliates, as broker-dealers or futures commission merchants to effect Fund transactions in securities and other investments for a Fund. The Subadviser will promptly communicate to the Adviser and to the officers and the Trustees of the Trust such information relating to Fund transactions as they may reasonably request, including but not limited to, reports prepared by independent third parties relating to the execution costs of such transactions. To the extent consistent with applicable law, the Subadviser may aggregate purchase or sell orders for the Fund with contemporaneous purchase or sell orders of other clients of the Subadviser or its affiliated persons. In such event, allocation of the securities so purchased or sold, as well as the expenses incurred in the transaction, will be made by the Subadviser in the manner the Subadviser determines to be equitable and consistent with its and
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its affiliates’ fiduciary obligations to the Fund and to such other clients. The Adviser hereby acknowledges that such aggregation of orders may not result in more favorable pricing or lower brokerage commissions in all instances.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 2(a) above, for such purposes as obtaining investment research products and services, covering fees and expenses, the Adviser may request the Subadviser to effect a specific percentage of the transactions in securities and other investments it effects on behalf of a Fund with certain broker-dealers and futures commission merchants. In designating the use of a particular broker-dealer or futures commission merchant, the Adviser and Subadviser acknowledge and agree that all brokerage transactions are subject to best execution. As such, Subadviser will use its best efforts to direct commission transactions to a particular broker-dealer or futures commission merchant designated by the Adviser consistent with its obligations regarding best execution. Adviser acknowledges that Subadviser may be unable to fulfill the Adviser’s request for direction for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: 1) such direction may result in the Subadviser paying a higher commission, depending upon the Subadviser’s arrangements with the particular broker-dealer or futures commission merchant, etc; 2) if the Subadviser directs payments of an excessive amount of commissions, the executions may not be accomplished as rapidly; 3) the Subadviser may forfeit the possible advantage derived from the aggregation of multiple orders as a single “bunched” transaction where Subadviser would, in some instances, be in a better position to negotiate commissions; or 4) Subadviser does not make commitments to allocate fixed or definite amounts of commissions to brokers.
3. Compensation of the Subadviser. The Subadviser shall not be entitled to receive any payment from the Trust and shall look solely and exclusively to the Adviser for payment of all fees for the services rendered, facilities furnished and expenses paid by it hereunder. The Subadvisder’s fee shall be paid by the Adviser without regard to any reduction in the fees paid by the Corporation to the Adviser under its Advisory Agreement as a result of any statutory or regulatory limitation on investment company expenses or voluntary fee reduction assumed by the Adviser. As full compensation for the Subadviser under this Agreement, the Adviser agrees to pay to the Subadviser a fee at the annual rate set forth in Schedule A hereto with respect to each Fund, or portion thereof, that the Subadviser manages. Such fee shall be accrued daily and paid monthly as soon as practicable after the end of each month (i.e., the applicable annual fee rate divided by 365 applied to each prior days’ net assets in order to calculate the daily accrual). If the Subadviser shall provide its services under this Agreement for less than the whole of any month, the foregoing compensation shall be prorated.
4. Other Services. At the request of the Trust or the Adviser, the Subadviser, in its discretion, may make available to the Trust office facilities, equipment, personnel and other services. Such office facilities, equipment, personnel and services shall be provided for or rendered by the Subadviser and billed to the Trust or the Adviser at the Subadviser’s cost.
5. Reports. Adviser agrees to provide promptly to the Subadviser on an on-going basis copies of all amendments and supplements to the current Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) of the Fund (collectively, “Fund Documents”), and copies of any amendments thereto. Until the Adviser delivers to the Subadviser any supplements or amendments to the Fund Documents, the Subadviser shall be entitled to rely on the most recent version of such documents previously furnished to the Subadviser. Adviser shall also inform the Subadviser, and the Subadviser shall inform the Adviser of the same, of the results of any audits or examinations by regulatory authorities pertaining to the other party’s responsibilities for the Fund. agree to
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furnish to each other, if applicable, current prospectuses, statements of additional information, proxy statements, reports of shareholders, certified copies of their financial statements, and such other information with regard to their affairs and that of the Trust as each may reasonably request.
6. Status of the Subadviser. The services of the Subadviser to the Adviser and the Corporation are not to be deemed exclusive, and the Subadviser shall be free to render similar services to others. Subadviser shall be deemed to be an independent contractor and shall, unless otherwise expressly provided or authorized, have no authority to act for or represent the Trust in any way or otherwise be deemed an agent of the Trust.
Each of Adviser and the Subadviser will provide the other party with a list, to the best of Adviser’s or Subadviser’s respective knowledge, of each affiliated person (and any affiliated person of such an affiliated person) of Adviser or the Subadviser, as the case may be, and each of Adviser and the Subadviser agrees promptly to update such list whenever Adviser or the Subadviser becomes aware of any changes that should be added to or deleted from the list of affiliated persons.
7. Advertising. Subadviser shall not provide or in any way distribute any sales or advertising materials, whether or not related to the Trust, to any employee or representative of SunAmerica Capital Services, Inc. (“SACS”) or its affiliates, including wholesaling personnel, unless such material has been received and approved, in writing, by the Adviser. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Subadviser may include the Adviser’s and Trust’s names in its “client list” used in promotional materials with prior consent of the Adviser and/or Trust.
8. Proxy Voting. Each Fund has appointed Institutional Shareholder Services as the proxy-voting agent and will vote all such proxies in accordance with the proxy voting policies and procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. With respect to certain vote items, a Fund may request guidance or a recommendation from the adviser, administrator or subadviser of the Fund. The Subadviser shall not have responsibilities in connection with proxy voting for the Fund, except that the Subadviser may be affirmatively requested to make a proxy voting recommendation that the Fund or Adviser may choose to follow.
9. Certain Records. The Subadviser hereby undertakes and agrees to maintain, in the form and for the period required by Rule 31a-2 under the Act, all records relating to the investments of the Funds that are required to be maintained by the Trust pursuant to the requirements of Rule 31a-1 of that Act. Copies of any records required to be maintained and preserved pursuant to the provisions of Rule 31a-1 and Rule 31a-2 promulgated under the Act which are prepared or maintained by the Subadviser on behalf of the Trust will be provided promptly to the Trust or the Adviser on request.
The Subadviser agrees that all accounts, books and other records maintained and preserved by it as required hereby shall be subject at any time, and from time to time, to such reasonable periodic, special and other examinations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Trust’s auditors, the Trust or any representative of the Trust, the Adviser, or any governmental agency or other instrumentality having regulatory authority over the Trust.
10. Reference to the Subadviser. Neither the Trust nor the Adviser or any affiliate or agent thereof shall make reference to or use the name or logo of the Subadviser or any of its
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affiliates in any advertising or promotional materials without the prior approval of the Subadviser, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld.
11. Liability of the Subadviser. (a) In the absence of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of obligations or duties (“disabling conduct”) hereunder on the part of the Subadviser (and its officers, partners, agents, employees, controlling persons, shareholders and any other person or entity affiliated with the Subadviser), the Subadviser shall not be subject to liability to the Adviser, its officers, Trustees, agents, employees, controlling persons or shareholders or to the Trust or to any shareholder of the Trust for any act or omission in the course of, or connected with, rendering services hereunder, including without limitation, any error of judgment or mistake of law or for any loss suffered by any of them in connection with the matters to which this Agreement relates, except to the extent specified in Section 36(b) of the Act concerning loss resulting from a breach of fiduciary duty with respect to the Subadviser’s receipt of compensation for services. Except for such disabling conduct, the Adviser shall indemnify the Subadviser (and its officers, partners, agents, employees, controlling persons, shareholders and any other person or entity affiliated with the Subadviser) (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) from any and all losses, claims, damages, liabilities or litigation (including reasonable legal and other expenses) arising from the Subadviser’s providing services under this Agreement or the sale of securities of the Trust.
(b) The Subadviser agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Adviser and its affiliates and each of its Trustees and officers and each person, if any, who controls the Adviser within the meaning of Section 15 of the 1933 Act against any and all losses, claims, damages, liabilities or litigation (including reasonable legal and other expenses), to which the Adviser or its affiliates or such Trustees, officers or controlling person may become subject under the 1933 Act, under other statutes, at common law or otherwise, which are caused by Subadviser’s disabling conduct; provided, however, that in no case is the Subadviser’s indemnity in favor of any person deemed to protect such other persons against any liability to which such person would otherwise be subject by reasons of willful misfeasance, bad faith, or gross negligence in the performance of his, her or its duties or by reason of his, her or its reckless disregard of obligation and duties under this Agreement.
(c) The Subadviser shall not be liable to the Adviser its officers, Trustees, agents, employees, controlling persons or shareholders or to the Trust or its shareholders for (i) any acts of the Adviser or any other subadviser to the Funds with respect to the portion of the assets of a Fund not managed by Subadviser and (ii) acts of the Subadviser which result from or are based upon acts of the Adviser, including, but not limited to, a failure of the Adviser to provide accurate and current information with respect to any records maintained by Adviser or any other subadviser to a Fund, which records are not also maintained by the Subadviser or, to the extent such records relate to the portion of the assets managed by the Subadviser, otherwise available to the Subadviser upon reasonable request. The Adviser and Subadviser each agree that, to the extent the Subadviser is responsible for managing only a portion of a Fund, the Subadviser shall manage the portion of the assets of a Fund allocated to it as if it was a separate operating Fund and shall comply with subsections (a) and (b) of Section 1 of this Subadvisory Agreement (including, but not limited to, the investment objectives, policies and restrictions applicable to a Fund and qualifications of a Fund as a regulated investment company under the Code) only with respect to the portion of assets of a Fund allocated to Subadviser. The Adviser shall indemnify the Indemnified Parties from any and all losses, claims, damages, liabilities or litigation (including reasonable legal and other
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expenses) arising from the conduct of the Adviser, the Trust and any other subadviser with respect to the portion of a Fund’s assets not allocated to the Subadviser.
12. Confidentiality. The Subadviser will not disclose or use any records or information obtained pursuant to this Agreement in any manner whatsoever except as expressly authorized in this Agreement or as reasonably required to execute transactions on behalf of a Fund, and will keep confidential any non-public information obtained directly as a result of this service relationship, and the Subadviser shall disclose such non-public information only if the Adviser or the Board of Trustees has authorized such disclosure by prior written consent, or if such information is or hereafter otherwise is known by the Subadviser or has been disclosed, directly or indirectly, by the Adviser or the Trust to others becomes ascertainable from public or published information or trade sources, or if such disclosure is expressly required or requested by applicable federal or state regulatory authorities, or to the extent such disclosure is reasonably required by auditors or attorneys of the Subadviser in connection with the performance of their professional services or as may otherwise be contemplated by this Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Subadviser may disclose the total return earned by a Fund and may include such total return in the calculation of composite performance information.
13. Representations. By execution of the Agreement, Subadviser represents that: (i) it is duly registered as an Investment Adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”) and that it provided to the Adviser Part 2A of its registration statement on Form ADV (the “ADV”) prior to signing the Agreement.
14. Term of the Agreement. This Agreement shall continue in full force and effect until June 30, 2013, and from year to year thereafter so long as such continuance is specifically approved at least annually (i) by the vote of a majority of those Trustees of the Trust who are not parties to this Agreement or interested persons of any such party, cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval, and (ii) by the Trustees of the Trust or by vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.
This Agreement may be terminated at any time, without payment of a penalty by the Fund or the Trust, by vote of a majority of the Trustees, or by vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the Act) of the Fund, or by the Adviser, on not less than 30 nor more than 60 days’ written notice to the Subadviser. This Agreement may be terminated by the Subadviser at any time, without the payment of any penalty, on 90 days’ written notice to the Adviser and the Fund. This Agreement shall automatically terminate). This Agreement will also terminate in the event that the Advisory Agreement by and between the Trust and the Adviser is terminated.
15. Severability. This Agreement constitutes the entire Agreement between the parties hereto. If any provision of this Agreement shall be held or made invalid by a court decision, statute, rule or otherwise, the remainder of this Agreement shall not be affected thereby.
16. Amendments. This Agreement may be amended by mutual consent in writing, but the consent of the Trust must be obtained in conformity with the requirements of the Act.
17. Governing Law. This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York and the applicable provisions of the Act. To the extent the applicable
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laws of the State of New York, or any of the provisions herein, conflict with the applicable provisions of the Act, the latter shall control.
18. Notices. All notices shall be in writing and deemed properly given when delivered or mailed by United States certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, addressed as follows:
| Subadviser: | BlackRock Investment Management, LLC | |
| Attention: [ ] | ||
| Adviser: | SunAmerica Asset Management Corp. | |
| Harborside Financial Center | ||
| 0000 Xxxxx 0 | ||
| Xxxxxx Xxxx, Xxx Xxxxxx 00000-0000 | ||
| Attention: Legal Department | ||
19. Representations of Adviser. The Adviser hereby warrants and represents to the Subadviser that (i) it has obtained all applicable licenses, permits, registrations and approvals that may be required in order to serve in its designated capacities with respect to the Fund, and shall continue to keep current such licenses, permits, registrations and approvals for so long as this Agreement is in effect; (ii) it will immediately notify the Subadviser of the occurrence of any event that would disqualify it from serving in its designated capacities with respect to the Fund; (iii) this Agreement has been duly and validly authorized, executed and delivered on behalf of the Adviser and is a valid and binding agreement of the Adviser enforceable in accordance with its terms; and (iv) it has received a copy of the Subadviser’s Advanced Disclosure Statement (“Form ADV”) at least 48 hours prior to the execution of this Agreement and has delivered a copy of the same to the Company, as required by applicable law.
20. Certain Information. The parties hereto shall promptly notify the other party in writing of the occurrence of any of the following events: (a) the party shall fail to be registered as an investment adviser under the Advisers Act and under the laws of any jurisdiction in which the party is required to be registered as an investment adviser in order to perform its obligations under this Agreement, (b) the party has a reasonable basis for believing that the Fund has ceased to qualify or might not qualify as a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the Code (c) the party shall have been served or otherwise have notice of any action, suit, proceeding, inquiry or investigation, at law or in equity, before or by any court, public board or body, involving the affairs of the Fund, and (d) the principal officers of the party or any portfolio manager of the Fund shall have changed.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have caused their respective duly authorized officers to execute this Agreement as of the date first above written.
| SUNAMERICA ASSET MANAGEMENT CORP. | ||||||||
| By: |
| |||||||
| Name: | Xxxxx X. Xxxxxxx | |||||||
| Title: | President and CEO | |||||||
| BLACKROCK INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC | ||||||||
| By: |
| |||||||
| Name: | ||||||||
| Title: | ||||||||
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SCHEDULE A
| Fund |
Fee Rate (as a percentage of daily net assets the Subadviser manages for the Fund | |
| SunAmerica Focused Alpha Large-Cap Fund | ||
