Exhibit (d)(xxiii)
SUBADVISORY AGREEMENT
This SUBADVISORY AGREEMENT is dated as of December 1, 2005 by and
between AIG SUNAMERICA ASSET MANAGEMENT CORP., a Delaware corporation (the
"Adviser"), and Salomon Brothers Asset Management Inc, a Delaware corporation
(the "Subadviser").
WITNESSETH:
WHEREAS, the Adviser and Seasons Series Trust, a Massachusetts business
trust (the "Trust"), have entered into an Investment Advisory and Management
Agreement dated as of January 1, 1999, as amended from time to time (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 "1940 Act"), as an open-end management investment company and
may issue shares of beneficial interest, par value $.01 per share, in separately
designated portfolios representing separate funds with their own investment
objectives, policies and purposes; and
WHEREAS, the Subadviser is engaged in the business of rendering investment
advisory services and is a "investment adviser" as defined 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 portfolio or portfolios of the
Trust listed on Schedule A attached hereto (the "Portfolio(s)"), 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 a portion of the assets of each Portfolio 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
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 in compliance with
(a) the objectives, policies, and limitations for the
Portfolio(s) set forth in the Trust's current prospectus and statement of
additional information, and (b) applicable laws and regulations.
The Subadviser represents and warrants to the Adviser that the
portion of assets allocated to it of each of the Portfolios set forth in
Schedule A will at all times be operated and managed (1) in compliance with all
applicable federal and state laws governing its operations and investments; and
(2) so as not to jeopardize either the treatment of the Seasons variable annuity
contracts issued by Variable Annuity Account Five (File No. 33-08859;
hereinafter "Contracts") as annuity contracts for purposes of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), or the eligibility of the
Contracts to qualify for sale to the public in any state where they may
otherwise be sold. Without limiting the foregoing, the Subadviser represents and
warrants (1) qualification, election and maintenance of such election by each
Portfolio to be treated as a "regulated investment company" under Subchapter M,
chapter 1 of the Code, and (2) compliance with (a) the provisions of the Act and
rules adopted thereunder; (b) the diversification requirements specified in the
Internal Revenue Service's regulations under Section 817(h) of the Code; (c)
applicable state insurance laws; (d) applicable federal and state securities,
commodities and banking laws; and (e) the distribution requirements necessary to
avoid payment of any excise tax pursuant to Section 4982 of the Code. The
Subadviser further represents and warrants that to the extent that any
statements or omissions made in any Registration Statement for the Contracts or
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 1940 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 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.
(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. PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS. The Subadviser is responsible for decisions to
buy or sell securities and other investments for a portion of the assets of each
Portfolio, broker-dealers and futures commission merchants' selection, and
negotiation of brokerage commission and futures commission merchants' rates. As
a general matter, in executing portfolio transactions, the Subadviser may employ
or deal with such broker-dealers or futures commission merchants as may, in the
Subadviser's best judgement, provide prompt and reliable execution of the
transactions at favorable prices and reasonable commission rates. In selecting
such broker-
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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 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 Portfolio 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 Portfolio 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 portfolio transactions in securities
and other investments for a Portfolio. The Subadviser will promptly communicate
to the Adviser and to the officers and the Trustees of the Trust such
information relating to portfolio transactions as they may reasonably request.
To the extent consistent with applicable law, the Subadviser may aggregate
purchase or sell orders for the Portfolio 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 its
affiliates' fiduciary obligations to the Portfolio 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 direct the Subadviser to effect a specific percentage of a
Portfolio's transactions in securities and other investments to 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:
(1) all brokerage transactions are subject to best execution. As
such, Subadviser will use it's best efforts to direct non-risk
commission transactions to a particular broker-dealer in
futures commission merchant designated by the Adviser provided
that the Subadviser obtains best execution;
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(2) 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;
(3) if the Subadviser directs payments of an excessive amount of
commissions, the executions may not be accomplished as
rapidly. In addition, 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;
and
(4) Subadviser does not make commitments to allocate fixed or
definite amounts of commissions to brokers. As such the
Subadviser may be unable to fulfill the Adviser's request for
direction due to the reasons stated above. The Subadvisers
will not be held accountable for actions taken in response to
the Adviser's specific request for direction in the absence of
disabling conduct described in paragraph ten herein.
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. As full compensation for the Subadviser under
this Agreement, the Adviser agrees to pay to the Subadviser a fee at the annual
rates set forth in Schedule A hereto with respect to the portion of the assets
managed by the Subadviser for each Portfolio listed thereon. 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 in order to facilitate meetings or other
similar functions. 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. The Trust, the Adviser and the Subadviser agree to 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 Trust are not to be deemed exclusive, and the Subadviser shall be free
to render similar services to others so long as its services to the Trust are
not impaired thereby. The Subadviser shall be deemed to be an independent
contractor and shall, unless otherwise expressly provided or
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authorized, have no authority to act for or represent the Trust in any way or
otherwise be deemed an agent of the Trust.
7. PROXY VOTING. The Adviser will vote proxies relating to the Portfolio's
securities. The Adviser will vote all such proxies in accordance with such proxy
voting guidelines and procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The Adviser
may, on certain non-routine matters, consult with the Subadviser before voting
proxies relating to the Portfolio's securities. The Adviser will instruct the
custodian and other parties providing services to the Trust promptly to forward
to the proxy voting service copies of all proxies and shareholder communications
relating to securities held by each Portfolio (other than materials relating to
legal proceedings).
8. CERTAIN RECORDS. The Subadviser hereby undertakes and agrees to
maintain, in the form and for the period required by Rule 31a-2 under the 1940
Act, all records relating to the investments of the Portfolio(s) that are
required to be maintained by the Trust pursuant to the requirements of Rule
31a-1 of that Act. Any records required to be maintained and preserved pursuant
to the provisions of Rule 31a-1 and Rule 31a-2 promulgated under the 1940 Act
which are prepared or maintained by the Subadviser on behalf of the Trust are
the property of the Trust and will be surrendered 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.
9. REFERENCE TO THE SUBADVISER. Neither the Trust nor the Adviser or any
affiliate or agent thereof shall make reference to or use the name of the
Subadviser or any of its affiliates in any advertising or promotional materials
without the prior approval of the Subadviser, which approval shall not be
unreasonably withheld.
10. 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, directors, 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 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 receipt of compensation for services.
(b) The Subadviser shall not be liable to the Adviser, its officers,
directors, 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 Portfolio with respect to the portion of the assets of a
Portfolio 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
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provide accurate and current information with respect to any records maintained
by Adviser or any other subadviser to a Portfolio, which records are not also
maintained by the Subadviser or, to the extent such records related 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
the Subadviser shall manage the portion of the assets of a Portfolio allocated
to it as if it was a separate operating portfolio 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 Portfolio and qualifications of a Portfolio as a regulated
investment company under the Code) only with respect to the portion of assets of
a Portfolio 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 expenses) arising from the conduct of the
Adviser, the Trust and any other subadviser with respect to the portion of a
Portfolio's assets not allocated to the Subadviser and with respect to any other
portfolio of the Trust.
11. 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 the Portfolios, 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, self regulatory
organizations, or to the extent such disclosure is necessary for employees of
the Subadviser to carry out its duties on behalf of the Portfolio(s) as
contemplated by this Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Subadviser
may disclose the total return earned by the Portfolios and may include such
total return in the calculation of composite performance information.
12. PERMISSIBLE INTERESTS. Trustees and agents of the Trust are or may be
interested in the Subadviser (or any successor thereof) as directors, partners,
officers, or shareholders, or otherwise; directors, partners, officers, agents,
and shareholders of the Subadviser are or may be interested in the Trust as
trustees, or otherwise; and the Subadviser (or any successor) is or may be
interested in the Trust in some manner.
13. TERM OF THE AGREEMENT. This Agreement shall continue in full force and
effect with respect to each Portfolio until two years from the date hereof, 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 Portfolio voting separately from any other
series of the Trust.
With respect to each Portfolio, this Agreement may be terminated at
any time, without payment of a penalty by the Portfolio or the Trust, by vote of
a majority of the Trustees,
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or by vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the
Act) of the Portfolio, voting separately from any other series of the Trust, or
by the Adviser, on not less than 30 nor more than 60 days' written notice to the
Subadviser. With respect to each Portfolio, 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 Trust. The termination of this Agreement
with respect to any Portfolio or the addition of any Portfolio to Schedule A
hereto (in the manner required by the Act) shall not affect the continued
effectiveness of this Agreement with respect to each other Portfolio subject
hereto. This Agreement shall automatically terminate in the event of its
assignment (as defined by the Act).
This Agreement will also terminate in the event that the Advisory
Agreement by and between the Trust and the Adviser is terminated.
14. SEVERABILITY. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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 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.
17. SEPARATE SERIES. Pursuant to the provisions of the Declaration, each
Portfolio is a separate series of the Trust, and all debts, liabilities,
obligations and expenses of a particular Portfolio shall be enforceable only
against the assets of that Portfolio and not against the assets of any other
Portfolio or of the Trust as a whole.
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: Salomon Brothers Asset Management, Inc.
000 Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx Xxxxx
Xxxxxxxx, Xxxxxxxxxxx 00000
Attention: Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxx
General Counsel
Adviser: AIG SunAmerica Asset Management Corp.
Harborside Financial Center
0000 Xxxxx 0
Xxxxxx Xxxx, XX 00000
Attention: Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx
Senior Vice President and
General Counsel
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with a copy to: AIG SunAmerica Inc.
0 XxxXxxxxxx Xxxxxx
Xxxxxxx Xxxx
Xxx Xxxxxxx, XX 00000-0000
Attention: Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxx
Secretary, Seasons Series Trust
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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.
AIG SUNAMERICA ASSET MANAGEMENT CORP.
By: /s/ XXXXX X. XXXXXXX
--------------------------------------------
Name: Xxxxx X. Xxxxxxx
Title: President and Chief Executive Officer
SALOMON BROTHERS ASSET MANAGEMENT INC
By: /s/ XXXX XXXXXX
--------------------------------------------
Name: Xxxx Xxxxxx
Title: Managing Director
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