EXHIBIT d.1
PHOENIX ADVISER TRUST
INVESTMENT ADVISORY AGREEMENT
PHOENIX ADVISER TRUST
INVESTMENT ADVISORY AGREEMENT
THIS AGREEMENT effective as of the 20th day of June, 2005 (the
"Contract Date") is by and between the Phoenix Adviser Trust, a Delaware
business trust (the "Trust") having a place of business at 000 Xxxxxx Xxxxxx,
Xxxxxxxxxx, Xxxxxxxxxxxxx and Phoenix Investment Counsel, Inc., a Massachusetts
corporation having a place of business at 00 Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxx, Xxxxxxxx,
Xxxxxxxxxxx (the "Adviser").
WITNESSETH THAT:
1. The Trust has appointed the Adviser to act as investment adviser to
the Trust on behalf of the series of the Trust established and designated by the
Board of Trustees of the Trust (the "Trustees") on or before the date hereof, as
listed on attached Schedule A (collectively, the "Existing Series"), for the
period and on the terms set forth herein. The Adviser has accepted such
appointment and has agreed to render the services described in this Agreement
for the compensation herein provided.
2. In the event that the Trustees desire to retain the Adviser to
render investment advisory services hereunder with respect to one or more
additional series (the "Additional Series"), by agreement in writing, the Trust
and the Adviser may agree to amend Schedule A to include such Additional Series,
whereupon such Additional Series shall become subject to the terms and
conditions of this Agreement.
3. The Adviser shall furnish continuously an investment program for
the Existing Series and any Additional Series which may become subject to the
terms and conditions set forth herein (sometimes collectively referred to as the
"Series") and shall manage the investment and reinvestment of the assets of each
Series, subject at all times to the supervision of the Trustees.
4. The Adviser may delegate its investment responsibilities under
paragraph 3 above with respect to the Series or segments thereof to one or more
persons or companies ("Subadviser(s)") pursuant to an agreement between the
Adviser, the Trust and any such Subadviser ("Subadvisory Agreement"). Each
Subadvisory Agreement may provide that the applicable Subadviser, subject to the
control and supervision of the Board of Trustees and the Adviser, shall have
full investment discretion for the Series, shall make all determinations with
respect to the investment and reinvestment of the assets of each Series assigned
to it and the purchase and sale of portfolio securities of those assets, and
shall take such steps as may be necessary to implement investment decisions. Any
delegation of duties pursuant to this paragraph shall comply with any applicable
provisions of Section 15 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "Act"),
except to the extent permitted by any exemptive order of the Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC") or similar relief. The Adviser shall not be
responsible or liable for the investment merits of any decision by a Subadviser
to purchase, hold or sell a security for any Series' portfolio.
5. With respect to managing the investment and reinvestment of the
Series' assets, the Adviser shall provide, at its own expense:
a) Investment research, advice and supervision;
b) An investment program for each Series consistent with its
investment objectives, policies and procedures as set forth in the
registration statement for the Trust;
c) Implementation of the investment program for each Series
including the purchase and sale of securities;
d) Implementation of an investment program designed to manage cash,
cash equivalents and short-term investments for a Series with respect
to assets designated from time to time to be managed by a Subadviser to
such Series;
e) Advice and assistance on the general operations of the Trust;
and
f) Regular reports to the Trustees on the implementation of each
Series' investment program.
6. The Adviser shall, for all purposes herein, 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 or the Series in
any way or otherwise be deemed an agent of the Trust or of the Series. However,
one or more shareholders, officers, directors or employees of the Adviser may
serve as trustees and/or officers of the Trust, but without compensation or
reimbursement of expenses for such services from the Trust. Nothing herein
contained shall be deemed to require the Trust to take any action contrary to
its Amended and Restated Trust Instrument (the "Trust Instrument"), as amended,
restated or supplemented, or any applicable statute or regulation, or to relieve
or deprive the Board of Trustees of its responsibility for and control of the
affairs of the Series.
7. The Adviser shall furnish at its own expense, or pay the expenses
of the Trust, for the following:
a) Office facilities, including office space, furniture and
equipment;
b) Personnel necessary to perform the functions required to manage
the investment and reinvestment of each Series' assets (including those
required for research, statistical and investment work);
c) Except as otherwise approved by the Board, personnel to serve
without salaries from the Trust as officers or agents of the Trust. The
Adviser need not provide personnel to perform, or pay the expenses of
the Trust for, services customarily performed for an open-end
management investment company by its national distributor, custodian,
financial agent, transfer agent, registrar, dividend disbursing agent,
auditors and legal counsel;
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d) Compensation and expenses, if any, of the Trustees who are also
full-time employees of the Adviser or any of its affiliates; and
e) Any Subadviser recommended by the Adviser and appointed to act
on behalf of the Trust.
8. All costs and expenses not specifically enumerated herein as
payable by the Adviser shall be paid by the Trust. Such expenses shall include,
but shall not be limited to, all expenses (other than those specifically
referred to as being borne by the Adviser) incurred in the operation of the
Trust and any public offering of its shares, including, among others, interest,
taxes, brokerage fees and commissions, fees of Trustees who are not affiliated
persons of the Adviser (as that term is defined in the Act) or any of its
affiliates, expenses of Trustees' and shareholders' meetings including the cost
of printing and mailing proxies, expenses of Adviser personnel attending Trustee
meetings as required, expenses of insurance premiums for fidelity and other
coverage for the Trust and its personnel, expenses of repurchase and redemption
of shares, expenses of issue and sale of shares (to the extent not borne by its
national distributor under its agreement with the Trust), expenses of printing
and mailing stock certificates representing shares of the Trust, association
membership dues, charges of custodians, transfer agents, dividend disbursing
agents and financial agents, bookkeeping, auditing and legal expenses. The Trust
will also pay the fees and bear the expense of registering and maintaining the
registration of the Trust and its shares with the SEC and registering or
qualifying its shares under state or other securities laws and the expense of
preparing and mailing prospectuses and reports to shareholders. Additionally, if
authorized by the Trustees, the Trust shall pay for extraordinary expenses and
expenses of a non-recurring nature which may include, but not be limited to the
reasonable and proportionate cost of any reorganization or acquisition of assets
and the cost of legal proceedings to which the Trust is a party.
9. The Adviser shall adhere, and shall use reasonable efforts to cause
the Trust to adhere, to all applicable policies and procedures as adopted from
time to time by the Trustees, including but not limited to the following:
a) Code of Ethics. The Adviser shall adopt a Code of Ethics
designed to prevent "access persons" (as defined therein in accordance
with Rule 17j-1 under the Act from engaging in fraudulent acts or
transactions that are, or have the potential of being viewed as, a
conflict of interest, and shall monitor for compliance with its Code of
Ethics and report any violations to the Trust's Compliance Officer.
b) Policy with Respect to Brokerage Allocation. The Adviser shall
have full trading discretion in selecting brokers for Series
transactions on a day to day basis so long as each selection is in
conformance with the Trust's Policy with Respect to Brokerage
Allocation. Such discretion shall include use of "soft dollars" for
certain broker and research services, also in conformance with the
Trust's Policy with Respect to Brokerage Allocation. The Adviser may
delegate the responsibilities under this section to a Subadviser of a
Series.
c) Procedures for the Determination of Liquidity of Assets. It
shall be the responsibility of the Adviser to monitor the Series'
assets that are not liquid, making such
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determinations as to liquidity of a particular asset as may be
necessary, in accordance with the Trust's Procedures for the
Determination of Liquidity of Assets. The Adviser may delegate the
responsibilities under this section to a Subadviser of a Series.
d) Policy with Respect to Proxy Voting. In the absence of specific
direction to the contrary and in a manner consistent with the Trust's
Policy with Respect to Proxy Voting, the Adviser shall be responsible
for voting proxies with respect to portfolio holdings of the Trust. The
Adviser shall review all proxy solicitation materials and be
responsible for voting and handling all proxies in relation to the
assets under management by the Adviser in accordance with such policies
and procedures adopted or approved by each Series'. Unless the Fund
gives the Adviser written instructions to the contrary, the Adviser
will, in compliance with the proxy voting procedures of the Series then
in effect or approved by the series, vote or abstain from voting, all
proxies solicited by or with respect to the issuers of securities in
which the assets of the Series may be invested. The Adviser shall cause
the Custodian to forward promptly to the Adviser (or designee) all
proxies upon receipt so as to afford the Adviser a reasonable amount of
time in which to determine how to vote such proxies. The Adviser agrees
to provide the Trust with quarterly proxy voting reports in such form
as the Trust may request from time to time. The Adviser may delegate
the responsibilities under this section to a Subadviser of a Series.
e) Procedures for the Valuation of Securities. It shall be the
responsibility of the Adviser to fully comply with the Trust's
Procedures for the Valuation of Securities. The Adviser may delegate
the responsibilities under this section to a Subadviser of a Series.
10. For providing the services and assuming the expenses outlined
herein, the Trust agrees that the Adviser shall be compensated as
follows:
a) The Trust shall pay a monthly fee calculated at an annual rate
as specified in Schedule A. The amounts payable to the Adviser with
respect to the respective Series shall be based upon the average of the
values of the net assets of such Series as of the close of business
each day, computed in accordance with the Trust's Trust Instrument.
b) Compensation shall accrue immediately upon the effective date of
this Agreement.
c) If there is termination of this Agreement with respect to any
Series during a month, the Series' fee for that month shall be
proportionately computed upon the average of the daily net asset values
of such Series for such partial period in such month.
d) The Adviser agrees to reimburse the Trust for the amount, if
any, by which the total operating and management expenses for any
Series (including the Adviser's compensation, pursuant to this
paragraph, but excluding taxes, interest, costs of portfolio
acquisitions and dispositions and extraordinary expenses), for any
"fiscal year" exceed the level of expenses which such Series is
permitted to bear under the most restrictive expense limitation (which
is not waived by the State) imposed on open-end
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investment companies by any state in which shares of such Series are
then qualified. Such reimbursement, if any, will be made by the Adviser
to the Trust within five days after the end of each month. For the
purpose of this subparagraph (d), the term "fiscal year" shall include
the portion of the then current fiscal year that shall have elapsed at
the date of termination of this Agreement.
11. The services of the Adviser to the Trust are not to be deemed
exclusive, the Adviser being free to render services to others and to engage in
other activities. Without relieving the Adviser of its duties hereunder and
subject to the prior approval of the Trustees and subject farther to compliance
with applicable provisions of the Investment Company Act, as amended, the
Adviser may appoint one or more agents to perform any of the functions and
services which are to be provided under the terms of this Agreement upon such
terms and conditions as may be mutually agreed upon among the Trust, the Adviser
and any such agent.
12. The Adviser shall not be liable to the Trust or to any shareholder
of the Trust for any error of judgment or mistake of law or for any loss
suffered by the Trust or by any shareholder of the Trust in connection with the
matters to which this Agreement relates, except a loss resulting from willful
misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard on the part of
the Adviser in the performance of its duties hereunder.
13. It is understood that:
a) Trustees, officers, employees, agents and shareholders of the
Trust are or may be "interested persons" of the Adviser as directors,
officers, stockholders or otherwise;
b) Directors, officers, employees, agents and stockholders of the
Adviser are or may be "interested persons' of the Trust as Trustees,
officers, shareholders or otherwise; and
c) The existence of any such dual interest shall not affect the
validity hereof or of any transactions hereunder.
14. This Agreement shall become effective with respect to the Existing
Series as of June 20, 2005, and with respect to any Additional Series, on the
date specified in any amendment to this Agreement reflecting the addition of
each Additional Series in accordance with paragraph 2 (the "Amendment Date").
Unless terminated as herein provided, this Agreement shall remain in full force
and effect until November 30, 2005 with respect to each Existing Series and
until December 31 of the first full calendar year following the Amendment Date
with respect to each Additional Series, and shall continue in full force and
effect for periods of one year thereafter with respect to each Series so long as
(a) such continuance with respect to any such Series is approved at least
annually by either the Trustees or by a "vote of the majority of the outstanding
voting securities" of such Series and (b) the terms and any renewal of this
Agreement with respect to any such Series have been approved by a vote of a
majority of the Trustees 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; provided, however, that the continuance of this
Agreement with respect to each Additional Series is subject to its approval by
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a "vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities" of any such
Additional Series on or before the next anniversary of the Contract Date
following the date on which such Additional Series became a Series hereunder.
Any approval of this Agreement by a vote of the holders of a "majority
of the outstanding voting securities" of any Series shall be effective to
continue this Agreement with respect to such Series notwithstanding (a) that
this Agreement has not been approved by a "vote of a majority of the outstanding
voting securities" of any other Series of the Trust affected thereby and (b)
that this Agreement has not been approved by the holders of a "vote of a
majority of the outstanding voting securities" of the Trust, unless either such
additional approval shall be required by any other applicable law or otherwise.
15. The Trust may terminate this Agreement with respect to the Trust or
to any Series upon 60 days' written notice to the Adviser at any time, without
the payment of any penalty, by vote of the Trustees or, as to each Series, by a
"vote of the majority of the outstanding voting securities" of such Series. The
Adviser may terminate this Agreement upon 60 days' written notice to the Trust,
without the payment of any penalty. This Agreement shall immediately terminate
in the event of its "assignment".
16. The terms "majority of the outstanding voting securities",
"interested persons" and "assignment", when used herein, shall have the
respective meanings in the Investment Company Act.
17. In the event of termination of this Agreement, or at the request of
the Adviser, the Trust will eliminate all reference to "Phoenix" from its name,
and will not thereafter transact business in a name using the word "Phoenix" in
any form or combination whatsoever, or otherwise use the word "Phoenix" as a
part of its name. The Trust will thereafter in all prospectuses, advertising
materials, letterheads, and other material designed to be read by investors or
prospective investors delete from the name the word "Phoenix" or any
approximation thereof. If the Adviser chooses to withdraw the Trust's right to
use the word "Phoenix," it agrees to submit the question of continuing this
Agreement to a vote of the Trust's shareholders at the time of such withdrawal.
18. It is expressly agreed that the obligations of the Trust hereunder
shall not be binding upon any of the Trustees, shareholders, nominees, officers,
agents or employees of the Trust personally, but bind only the trust property of
the Trust, as provided in the Trust Instrument. The execution and delivery of
this Agreement have been authorized by the Trustees and shareholders of the
Trust and signed by the President of the Trust, acting as such, and neither such
authorization by such Trustees and shareholders nor such execution and delivery
by such officer shall be deemed to have been made by any of them individually or
be binding upon or impose any liability on any of them personally, but shall
bind only the trust property of the Trust as provided in its Trust Instrument.
The Certificate of Trust, as amended, is or shall be on file with the Secretary
of State of Delaware.
19. This Agreement shall be construed and the rights and obligations of
the parties hereunder enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of
Connecticut.
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20. The Advisor hereby warrants and represents that it will provide the
requisite certifications requested by the chief executive officer and chief
financial officer of the Fund necessary for those named officers to fulfill
their reporting and certification obligations on Forms N-CSR and N-Q as required
under the Xxxxxxxx-Xxxxx Act of 2002.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be
executed by their duly authorized officers as of the day and year first written
above.
PHOENIX ADVISER TRUST
By: /s/ Xxxxxx X. Xxxxxx
--------------------------------
Name: Xxxxxx X. Xxxxxx
Title: President
PHOENIX INVESTMENT COUNSEL, INC.
By: /s/ Xxxx X. Xxxxx
--------------------------------
Name: Xxxx X. Xxxxx
Title: Vice President and Clerk
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SCHEDULE A
Series Investment Advisory Fee
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Phoenix Focused Value Fund 0.75%
Phoenix Foreign Opportunities Fund 0.85%
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XXX - PIC IA Agr - Vontobel.doc
