EQ Advisors Trust

04/30/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/30/2024 11:05

Summary Prospectus by Investment Company - Form 497K

EQ/Intermediate Corporate Bond Portfolio
EQ/Intermediate Corporate Bond Portfolio- Class IB and Class K Shares
Summary Prospectusdated May 1, 2024
Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio's Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. The Portfolio's Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"), each dated May 1, 2024, as may be amended or supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can find the Portfolio's Prospectus, SAI, reports to shareholders and other information about the Portfolio online at https://equitable-funds.com/allportfolios.aspx. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-877-222-2144 or by sending an e-mail request to [email protected]. This Summary Prospectus is intended for use in connection with a variable contract as defined in Section 817(d) of the Internal Revenue Code and certain other eligible investors and is not intended for use by other investors.
Investment Objective:Seeks to achieve a total return before expenses that approximates the total return performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Credit Corporate 5-10 Year Index ("Corporate Bond Index" or "Index"), including reinvestment of dividends, at a risk level consistent with that of the Index.
Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Portfolio. The table below does not reflect any fees and expenses associated with variable life insurance contracts and variable annuity certificates and contracts ("Contracts"), which would increase overall fees and expenses. See the Contract prospectus for a description of those fees and expenses.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Not applicable.
Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
EQ/Intermediate Corporate Bond Portfolio
Class IB
Shares
Class K
Shares
Management Fee
0.35%
0.35%
Distribution and/or Service Fees (12b-1 fees)
0.25%
0.00%
Other Expenses1
0.80%
0.16%
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses
1.40%
0.51%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement2
(0.75)%
(0.11)%
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement
0.65%
0.40%
1
Expenses have been restated to reflect current fees.
2
Pursuant to a contract, Equitable Investment Management Group, LLC (the "Adviser") has agreed to waive its and its affiliates' management, administrative and other fees and, if necessary, make payments to the Portfolio to limit the expenses of the Portfolio through April 30, 2025 (unless the Board of Trustees consents to an earlier revision or termination of this arrangement) ("Expense Limitation Arrangement") so that the annual operating expenses of the Portfolio (exclusive of taxes, interest, brokerage commissions, dividend and interest expenses on securities sold short, capitalized expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, and extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Portfolio's business) do not exceed an annual rate of average daily net assets of 0.65% for Class IB shares and 0.40% for Class K shares of the Portfolio. The Expense Limitation Arrangement may be terminated by the Adviser at any time after April 30, 2025. The Adviser may be reimbursed the amount of any such waivers or payments in the future provided that the waivers or payments are reimbursed within three years of the waivers or payments being recorded and the Portfolio's expense ratio, after the reimbursement is taken into account, does not exceed the Portfolio's expense cap at the time of the waiver or the Portfolio's expense cap at the time of the reimbursement, whichever is lower.
Example
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other portfolios. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the periods indicated, that your investment has a 5% return each year, that the Portfolio's operating expenses remain the same, and that the Expense Limitation Arrangement is not renewed. This Example does not reflect any Contract-related fees and expenses including redemption fees (if any) at
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the Contract level. If such fees and expenses were reflected, the total expenses would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, whether you redeem or hold your shares, your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class IB Shares
$66
$369
$694
$1,615
Class K Shares
$41
$152
$274
$630
Portfolio Turnover
The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio's performance. During the period April 3, 2023 (commencement of operations) through December 31, 2023, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 36% of the average value of its portfolio.
Investments, Risks, and Performance
Principal Investment Strategy
Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in debt securities.
The Portfolio uses a strategy that is commonly referred to as an index strategy. In seeking to achieve the Portfolio's investment objective, the Sub-Adviser generally will employ a stratified sampling approach to build a portfolio whose broad characteristics match those of the Corporate Bond Index, which means that the Portfolio is not required to purchase all of the securities represented in the Index. A stratified sampling approach seeks to match the return and characteristics of a particular index without having to purchase every security in that index by selecting a representative sample of securities for the Portfolio based on the characteristics of the index and the particular securities included therein. With respect to the Corporate Bond Index, such characteristics may include interest rate sensitivity, credit quality and sector diversification.
Individual securities holdings may differ from those of the Corporate Bond Index, and the Portfolio may not track the performance of the Index due to expenses and transaction costs, the size and frequency of cash flow into and out of the Portfolio, and differences between how and when the Portfolio and the Index are valued.
The Corporate Bond Index measures the performance of U.S. investment grade, taxable corporate bonds with maturities between 5 and 10 years that have $300 million or more of outstanding face value. The securities in the Index must be U.S. dollar-denominated and must be fixed-rate. The Index includes securities publicly issued by U.S. and non-U.S. industrial, utility, and financial companies. The Index is rebalanced monthly, and its components are weighted based on market value, taking into account the component security's price, accrued interest and par amount outstanding. Securities may be added to or removed from the Index in connection with the month-end rebalancing process. As of December 31, 2023, there were approximately 2,086 securities in the Index. The investment grade securities in the Index are listed and traded on U.S. exchanges and are rated BBB or higher by Standard & Poor's Global Ratings ("S&P") or Fitch Ratings Ltd. ("Fitch") or Baa or higher by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's").
The Portfolio will normally maintain a dollar-weighted average maturity between 5 and 10 years, which is consistent with that of the Index. The Portfolio will normally maintain an average duration consistent with that of the Index. As of December 31, 2023, the average duration of the Index was 6.11 years.
The Portfolio also may invest up to 10% of its assets in exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") that seek to track the Corporate Bond Index.
Principal Risks
An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.The value of your investment may fall, sometimes sharply, and you could lose money by investing in the Portfolio. There can be no assurance that the Portfolio will achieve its investment objective.
The following risks can negatively affect the Portfolio's performance. The most significant risks as of the date of this Prospectus are presented first, followed by additional principal risks in alphabetical order.
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Market Risk -The Portfolio is subject to the risk that the securities markets will move down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, based on overall economic conditions and other factors, which may negatively affect Portfolio performance. Securities markets also may experience long periods of decline in value. The value of a security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the market as a whole. Any issuer of securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by a variety of factors, such as poor management decisions; reduced demand for the issuer's goods or services; competitive pressures; negative perception in the marketplace; loss of major customers; strategic initiatives such as mergers or acquisitions and the market response to any such initiatives; and the historical and prospective earnings of the issuer. The value of a security also may decline due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic or political conditions, inflation rates and/or investor expectations concerning such rates, changes in interest rates, recessions, or adverse investor sentiment generally. During a general downturn in the securities markets, multiple asset classes may decline in value simultaneously. Even when securities markets perform well, there can be no assurance that the investments held by the Portfolio will increase in value along with the broader market. Changes in the financial condition of (or other event affecting) a single issuer can impact an individual sector or industry, or the securities markets as a whole. The value of a security also may decline due to factors that affect a particular sector or industry.
Geopolitical events, including acts of terrorism, tensions, war or other open conflicts between nations, or political or economic dysfunction within some nations that are global economic powers or major producers of oil, may lead to overall instability in world economies and markets generally and have led, and may in the future lead, to increased market volatility and may have adverse long-term effects. World markets, or those in a particular region, may all react in similar fashion to important economic, political or other developments. Events such as environmental and natural disasters or other catastrophes, public health crises (such as epidemics and pandemics), social unrest, and cybersecurity incidents, and governments' reactions (or failure to react) to such events, could cause uncertainty in the markets and may adversely affect the performance of the global economy. Impacts from climate change may include significant risks to global financial assets and economic growth. The extent and duration of such events and resulting market disruptions could be substantial and could magnify the impact of other risks to the Portfolio. The value and liquidity of the Portfolio's investments may be negatively affected by developments in other countries and regions, whether or not the Portfolio invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected.
Changes in government or central bank policies and political, diplomatic and other events within the United States and abroad could cause uncertainty in the markets, may affect investor and consumer confidence, and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy, perhaps suddenly and to a significant degree. High public debt in the United States and other countries creates ongoing systemic and market risks and policymaking uncertainty and may negatively affect economic conditions and the value of markets, sectors and companies in which the Portfolio invests.
In addition, markets and market participants are increasingly reliant on information data systems. Inaccurate data, software or other technology malfunctions, programming inaccuracies, unauthorized use or access, and similar circumstances may impair the performance of these systems and may have an adverse impact upon a single issuer, a group of issuers, or the market at large.
Index Strategy Risk -The Portfolio employs an index strategy and generally will not modify its index strategy to respond to changes in market trends or the economy, which means that the Portfolio may be particularly susceptible to a general decline in the market segment relating to the relevant index. In addition, although the index strategy attempts to closely track the relevant index, the Portfolio may not invest in all of the securities in the index. Therefore, there can be no assurance that the performance of the index strategy will match that of the relevant index. Because the Portfolio utilizes a representative sampling approach, it may experience greater tracking error than it would if the Portfolio sought to replicate the index.
To the extent that the Corporate Bond Index has a significant weighting in a particular sector, the Portfolio will be subject to the risks associated with that sector and may experience greater performance volatility than a portfolio that seeks to track the performance of an index that is more broadly diversified. The Corporate Bond Index typically has a significant weighting in the financial services sector, therefore, the value of the Portfolio's shares may be particularly vulnerable to factors affecting that sector, such as the availability and cost of capital funds, changes in interest rates, the rate of corporate and consumer debt defaults, extensive government regulation and price competition.
Credit Risk -The Portfolio is subject to the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a fixed income security, or the counterparty to a transaction, is unable or unwilling, or is perceived as unable or unwilling, to make timely interest or principal payments or otherwise honor its obligations, or defaults completely, which may cause the Portfolio's holdings to lose value. The downgrade of a security's credit rating may decrease its value. Lower credit quality also may lead to greater volatility in the price of a security and may negatively affect a security's liquidity. The credit quality of a security can deteriorate suddenly and rapidly. The Portfolio may experience a significant or complete loss on a fixed income security or a transaction.
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Interest Rate Risk -Changes in interest rates may affect the yield, liquidity and value of investments in income producing or debt securities. Changes in interest rates also may affect the value of other securities. When interest rates rise, the value of the Portfolio's debt securities generally declines. Conversely, when interest rates decline, the value of the Portfolio's debt securities generally rises. Typically, the longer the maturity (i.e., the term of a debt security) or duration (i.e., a measure of the sensitivity of a debt security to changes in market interest rates, based on the entire cash flow associated with the security) of a debt security, the greater the effect a change in interest rates could have on the security's price. Thus, the sensitivity of the Portfolio's debt securities to interest rate risk will increase the greater the duration of those securities. Changes in government or central bank monetary policy may have a substantial and immediate impact on interest rates, which could result in losses to the Portfolio.
Investment Grade Securities Risk -Securities rated in the lower investment grade rating categories (e.g., BBB or Baa) are considered investment grade securities, but may have more risk than higher rated obligations because they are regarded as having only an adequate capacity to pay principal and interest, are considered to lack outstanding investment characteristics, and may possess certain speculative characteristics.
ETFs Risk -When the Portfolio invests in an ETF, it will indirectly bear its proportionate share of the fees and expenses incurred by the ETF. These fees and expenses are in addition to the advisory fees and other expenses that the Portfolio and its shareholders bear directly in connection with the Portfolio's own operations. As a result, the Portfolio's shareholders will be subject to two layers of fees and expenses with respect to investments in the Portfolio. The cost of investing in the Portfolio, therefore, may be higher than the cost of investing in a mutual fund that invests directly in individual stocks and bonds. In addition, the Portfolio's net asset value will be subject to fluctuations in the market values of the ETFs in which it invests. The Portfolio is also subject to the risks associated with the securities or other investments in which the ETFs invest, and the ability of the Portfolio to meet its investment objective will directly depend on the ability of the ETFs to meet their investment objectives. A passively managed (or index-based) ETF's performance may not match that of the index it seeks to track. An actively managed ETF's performance will reflect its manager's ability to make investment decisions that are suited to achieving the ETF's investment objective. Furthermore, it is possible that an active trading market for an ETF may not develop or be maintained, in which case the liquidity and value of the Portfolio's investment in the ETF could be substantially and adversely affected. The extent to which the investment performance and risks associated with the Portfolio correlate to those of a particular ETF will depend upon the extent to which the Portfolio's assets are allocated from time to time for investment in the ETF, which will vary.
Liquidity Risk -From time to time, there may be little or no active trading market for a particular investment in which the Portfolio may invest or is invested. In such a market, the value of such an investment and the Portfolio's share price may fall dramatically. Illiquid investments may be difficult or impossible to sell or purchase at an advantageous time or price or in sufficient amounts to achieve the Portfolio's desired level of exposure. To meet redemption requests during periods of illiquidity, the Portfolio may be forced to dispose of investments at unfavorable times or prices and/or under unfavorable conditions, which may result in losses or may be costly to the Portfolio. Investments that are illiquid or that trade in lower volumes may be more difficult to value. The Portfolio also may not receive its proceeds from the sale of certain investments for an extended period of time. Certain investments that were liquid when purchased may later become illiquid, sometimes abruptly, particularly in times of overall economic distress or adverse investor perception. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect the Portfolio's value or prevent the Portfolio from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. During periods of market stress, an investment or even an entire market segment may become illiquid, sometimes abruptly, which can adversely affect the Portfolio's ability to limit losses. In addition, a reduction in the ability or willingness of dealers and other institutional investors to make a market in certain securities may result in decreased liquidity in certain markets.
Non-U.S. Issuer Risk -The Portfolio may invest in U.S.-registered, dollar-denominated bonds of non-U.S. corporations. Investments in bonds of non-U.S. issuers may involve certain risks that are greater than those associated with investments in securities of U.S. issuers. These include risks of adverse changes in foreign economic, political, regulatory and other conditions; the imposition of economic sanctions or other government restrictions; differing accounting, auditing, financial reporting and legal standards and practices; differing securities market structures; and higher transaction costs.
Portfolio Management Risk -The Portfolio is subject to the risk that strategies used by an investment manager and its securities selections fail to produce the intended results. An investment manager's judgments or decisions about the quality, relative yield or value of, or market trends affecting, a particular security or issuer, industry, sector, region or market segment, or about the economy or interest rates, may be incorrect or otherwise may not produce the intended results, which may result in losses to the Portfolio. In addition, many processes used in Portfolio management, including security selection, rely, in whole or in part, on the use of various technologies. The Portfolio may suffer losses if there are imperfections, errors or limitations in the quantitative, analytic or other tools, resources, information and data used, or the analyses employed or relied on, by an investment manager, or if such tools, resources, information or data are used incorrectly, fail to produce the desired results, or otherwise do not work as intended. There can be no assurance that the use of these technologies will result in effective investment decisions for the Portfolio.
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Large Transaction Risk -A significant percentage of the Portfolio's shares may be owned or controlled by the Adviser and its affiliates, other Portfolios advised by the Adviser (including funds of funds), or other large shareholders, including primarily insurance company separate accounts. Accordingly, the Portfolio is subject to the potential for large-scale inflows and outflows as a result of purchases and redemptions of its shares by such shareholders. These inflows and outflows could negatively affect the Portfolio's net asset value and performance.
Redemption Risk -The Portfolio may experience periods of heavy redemptions that could cause the Portfolio to sell assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is heightened during periods of declining or illiquid markets. Heavy redemptions could hurt the Portfolio's performance.
Market developments and other factors, including a general rise in interest rates, have the potential to cause investors to move out of fixed income securities on a large scale, which may increase redemptions from mutual funds that hold large amounts of fixed income securities. The market-making capacity of dealers has been reduced in recent years, in part as a result of structural changes, such as fewer proprietary trading desks at broker-dealers and increased regulatory capital requirements. Increased redemptions from mutual funds that hold large amounts of fixed income securities, coupled with a reduction in the ability or willingness of dealers and other institutional investors to buy or hold fixed income securities, may result in decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the fixed income markets.
Risk/Return Bar Chart and Table
Performance information will be available in the Prospectus after the Portfolio has been in operation for one full calendar year.
Who Manages the Portfolio
Investment Adviser: Equitable Investment Management Group, LLC ("EIM" or the "Adviser")
Portfolio Managers:The members of the team that are jointly and primarily responsible for the selection, monitoring and oversight of the Portfolio's Sub-Adviser are:
Name
Title
Date Began
Managing
the Portfolio
Kenneth T. Kozlowski, CFP®, CLU, ChFC
Executive Vice President and Chief Investment
Officer of EIM
April 2023
Alwi Chan, CFA®
Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief
Investment Officer of EIM
April 2023
Sub-Adviser: AllianceBernstein L.P. ("AllianceBernstein" or the "Sub-Adviser")
Portfolio Managers:The members of the team that are jointly and primarily responsible for the securities selection, research and trading for the Portfolio are:
Name
Title
Date Began
Managing
the Portfolio
Tiffanie Wong, CFA®
Senior Vice President and Director -
U.S. Investment Grade of AllianceBernstein
April 2023
Sonam Dorji
Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager of
AllianceBernstein
April 2023
The Adviser is responsible for overseeing Sub-Advisers and recommending their hiring, termination and replacement to the Board of Trustees. The Adviser has been granted relief by the Securities and Exchange Commission to hire, terminate and replace Sub-Advisers for the Portfolio and enter into and amend sub-advisory agreements on behalf of the Portfolio subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees and without obtaining shareholder approval. The Adviser may not enter into a sub-advisory agreement on behalf of the Portfolio with an "affiliated person" of the Adviser unless the sub-advisory agreement is approved by the Portfolio's shareholders. The relief does not extend to any increase in the advisory fee paid by the Portfolio to the Adviser; any such increase would be subject to shareholder approval.
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PURCHASE AND REDEMPTION OF PORTFOLIO SHARES
The Portfolio's shares are currently sold only to insurance company separate accounts in connection with Contracts issued by Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company ("Equitable Financial") or other affiliated or unaffiliated insurance companies and The Equitable 401(k) Plan. Shares also may be sold to other portfolios managed by EIM that currently sell their shares to such accounts and to other investors eligible under applicable federal income tax regulations. Class K shares may be sold only to other portfolios of the Trust and certain group annuity plans.
The Portfolio does not have minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements. Shares of the Portfolio are redeemable on any business day (which typically is any day the New York Stock Exchange is open) upon receipt of a request. All redemption requests will be processed and payment with respect thereto will normally be made within seven days after tender. Please refer to your Contract prospectus for more information on purchasing and redeeming Portfolio shares.
TAX INFORMATION
The Portfolio's shareholders are (or may include) insurance company separate accounts and other investors eligible under applicable federal income tax regulations. Distributions made by the Portfolio to such an account, and exchanges and redemptions of Portfolio shares made by such an account, ordinarily do not cause the holders of underlying Contracts to recognize income or gain for federal income tax purposes at the time of the distributions, exchanges or redemptions; the holders generally are taxed only on amounts they withdraw from their Contract. See the prospectus for your Contract for further tax information.
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
The Portfolio is not sold directly to the general public but instead is offered as an underlying investment option for Contracts and to other eligible investors. The Portfolio and the Adviser and its affiliates may make payments to sponsoring insurance companies (and their affiliates) or other financial intermediaries for distribution and/or other services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing an insurance company or other financial intermediary and your financial adviser to recommend the Portfolio over another investment or by influencing an insurance company to include the Portfolio as an underlying investment option in the Contract. The prospectus (or other offering document) for your Contract may contain additional information about these payments. Ask your financial adviser or visit your financial intermediary's website for more information.
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