Fund Evaluator:

Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I Overview

Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I (HIEMX) is an actively managed International Equity Diversified Emerging Mkts fund. Virtus launched the fund in 1997.

The investment seeks capital appreciation. The fund offers investors exposure to emerging economies through well-established companies. Under normal circumstances, it invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities or equity-linked instruments of issuers located in emerging markets countries; such issuers may be of any capitalization. Emerging markets countries generally include every nation in the world except the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and most nations located in Western Europe.

About Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I (HIEMX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 2.17 years: Alexandra Lee (2025), Kishore Rao (2023), Hrishikesh Gupta (2023). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: MSCI EM NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I has 28 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 52.1% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity fund group. Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I has 98.5% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 98.5% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I has 1.5% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $324 million in total assets, which is below the $967 million average for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

HIEMX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I has an expense ratio of 1.21%, which is 5% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I has a portfolio turnover rate of 23%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 68% for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I returned 4.2%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Diversified Emerging Mkts category had an average return of -4.9%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I has a trailing yield of 2.02%, which is above the 1.72% category average. The fund normally distributes its income semi-annually and its capital gains semi-annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Virtus SGA Emerging Markets Equity I Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned -6.7%, 25.8 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 0.2% over the past year (grade of F), -0.2% over the past three years (grade of F) and -4.8% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 0.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

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