SEC Company Response from AQR Funds (CIK 0001444822) — May 19, 2020
AQR Funds (CIK 0001444822)
Date: May 19, 2020 · CIK: 0001444822 · Accession: 0001683863-20-009807
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File numbers found in text: 333-153445, 811-22235
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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
9 00 G S TR E ET , N W
WA S HI N G TO N , D .C . 2 00 0 1
TE L EP HO N E : + 1- 2 0 2- 636 - 5 5 00
F A C S I M I L E : + 1- 2 0 2- 636 - 5 50 2
D irect D ia l Nu m ber
E - mai l Add ress
+ 1- 202 - 636- 5806
rya n. brizek @s tbla w. com
VIA EDGAR
May 19, 2020
Re: AQR Funds
Securities Act File No. 333-153445
Investment Company Act File No. 811-22235
Post-Effective Amendment No. 129
Ms. Samantha Brutlag
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549
Dear Ms. Brutlag:
On behalf of the AQR Diversifying Strategies Fund (the "Fund"), a series of AQR Funds (the "Trust"), we transmit for filing the Fund's responses to the telephonic comments provided by you on behalf of the staff (the "Staff") of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") to the undersigned and Debbie Sutter on Monday April 27, 2020, regarding Post-Effective Amendment No. 129 to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form N-1A (the "Registration Statement") filed with the Commission on March 13, 2020. The Staff's comments are described below and have been summarized to the best of our understanding. We have discussed the Staff's comments with representatives of the Fund. The Fund's responses to the Staff's comments are set out immediately under the restated comment. Unless otherwise indicated, defined terms used herein have the meanings set out in the Registration Statement.
All Prospectuses
Comment 1
Fee Table. Please provide the Staff with completed fee tables and expense
examples for the Fund at least one week prior to the effective date of the
amendment (the "Amendment") to the Trust's Registration Statement to be filed
for the Fund pursuant to Rule 485(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended.
Response
The requested information is provided in Appendix A.
Comment 2
Fee Table. Please confirm that the expense limitation agreement will be in place
for at least one year following the effective date of the Amendment.
N E W Y O R K B E I J I N G
H O N G K O N G H O U S T O N
L O N D O N
L O S A N G E L E S P A L O A L T O S ÷ O P A U L O T O K Y O
Securities and Exchange Commission
May 19, 2020
Response
The Trust confirms that the expense limitation agreement will be in place with
respect to the Fund until April 30, 2022, which is more than one year following
the effective date of the Amendment.
Comment 3
Principal Investment Strategies. The disclosure that the Fund will provide
investors with "diversification from a traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds"
appears to be inconsistent with the disclosure that the Affiliated Funds in which
the Fund invests will invest in stocks and bonds. Please clarify this disclosure.
Response
The Fund has revised its disclosure to make clear that the Affiliated Funds take
long and short positions in a wide range of securities, derivatives and other
instruments across several asset classes.
Comment 4
Principal Investment Strategies. Please disclose in the Fund's principal
investment strategies the quality and maturity of the debt securities in which the
Affiliated Funds may invest. If the Fund may invest in below investment grade
debt securities, please include specific disclosure to this effect.
Response
The requested change has been made. The Fund may have exposure through its
investments in the underlying Affiliated Funds to debt securities of any quality
and maturity, including below investment grade debt securities.
Comment 5
Principal Investment Strategies. Please clarify whether the Adviser seeks to
manage the Fund's volatility and, if so, please include appropriate risk
disclosure with respect to managing the Fund's volatility.
Response
The Adviser will not target any particular level of volatility for the Fund. Certain
Affiliated Funds in which the Fund will invest target a range of annualized
volatility levels. In light of the Staff's comment, the Fund has revised its
principal investment strategy disclosure to specifically state that the Fund does
not target any particular level of volatility. The Volatility Risk factor in the
Fund's prospectus has been updated to add the following disclosure:
There can be no assurance that the Fund's annualized level of volatility
through its investments in the Affiliated Funds will be within the
expected range; the actual realized volatility level of the Fund may differ
from the expected range over certain periods of time.
Comment 6
Principal Investment Strategies. In the section titled "Additional Information,"
consider replacing "expects" with "seeks" in the first sentence of this disclosure.
Response
As noted above, the Fund does not seek to target a particular level of volatility.
The Fund has revised this sentence to state:
"While the Fund does not target any particular level of volatility, the
Adviser, on average, expects that, through its investments in the
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Securities and Exchange Commission
May 19, 2020
Affiliated Funds, the Fund will realize an annualized volatility level of
between 4% and 8% over time; however, the actual realized volatility
level of the Fund may differ from this expected range over certain
periods of time."
Comment 7
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund. We note that the risk factors are in
alphabetical order. Please reorder the principal risks of investing in the Fund in
order of significance. See ADI 2019-08.
Response
The Fund respectfully declines to make the requested change at this time. The
Fund believes its risk factors can be located more easily when listed in
alphabetical order and categorized as the principal risks of the Fund and the
principal risks of the underlying Affiliated Funds. Moreover, as adopted by the
Commission, Form N-1A does not require a particular method of listing a fund's
principal risks. ADI 2019-08 states that it is not a rule, regulation or statement of
the Commission and that the Commission has neither approved nor disapproved
its content. Nevertheless, in light of ADI 2019-08, the Fund will consider
whether to reorder its principal risk factors in connection with its next annual
update process. The Fund has added the following disclosure to its Principal
Risks section: "The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the
significance of any particular risk factor."
Comment 8
Principal Investment Strategies. Please revise the description of the Fund's
principal investment strategies to include any strategies for which a principal
risk factor is disclosed (e.g., TIPS and inflation-linked bonds).
Response
The requested change has been made.
Comment 9
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund. Please add disclosure regarding the
impact of coronavirus on the Fund or explain why such disclosure is not
necessary.
Response
Risk disclosure regarding the impact of the coronavirus and other pandemics is
included under "Market Disruption Risk" in the Fund's statutory prospectus and
statement of additional information.
Comment 10
Portfolio Managers. Please revise the information regarding the Fund's portfolio
managers to include a specific year of inception instead of "since inception."
Response
The requested change has been made.
Comment 11
Performance Information. Please remove the disclosure on page 38 of the
prospectus for the Fund's Class I Shares and Class N Shares regarding the
Fund's performance information, as it already appears on page 7 of the
prospectus.
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Securities and Exchange Commission
May 19, 2020
Response
This disclosure has been revised to include the appropriate "Financial
Highlights" header.
Class R6 Shares Prospectus
Comment 12
In the prospectus for the Fund's Class R6 Shares, please explain why the fee
table includes a line item for Rule 12b-1 fees as the prospectus subsequently
provides that Class R6 Shares do not pay such fees.
Response
This line item will be disclosed as "None" in the current fee table. See Appendix
A.
Statement of Additional Information
Comment 13
Please confirm supplementary that the Fund will consider the concentration of
the underlying Affiliated Funds when determining whether the Fund is in
compliance with its own fundamental concentration policy.
Response
The Fund acknowledges the comment and will consider the concentration of the
underlying Affiliated Funds when determining whether the Fund is in compliance
with its own fundamental concentration policy.
*
*
*
Please do not hesitate to contact me at (202) 636-5806 if you have comments or if you require additional information regarding the Registration Statement.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Ryan P. Brizek
Ryan P. Brizek
cc:H.J. Willcox, Esq. Nicole DonVito, Esq. John Hadermayer, Esq. David Blass, Esq.
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APPENDIX A
AQR Diversifying Strategies Fund
Fund Summary — May 27, 2020
Investment Objective
The AQR Diversifying Strategies Fund (the "Fund") seeks capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Class I
Class N
Management Fee
0.00%
0.00%
Distribution (12b-1) Fee
None
0.25%
Other Expenses1
0.28%
0.28%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses1,2
1.42%
1.42%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
1.70%
1.95%
Less: Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements3
0.08%
0.08%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after Fee Waivers and/or Expense
Reimbursements
1.62%
1.87%
1 Other Expenses and Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are estimated for the current fiscal year because the Fund has not commenced operations.
2Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of the Fund's investments in underlying mutual funds, money market mutual funds, exchange-traded funds or other pooled investment vehicles
3The Adviser has contractually agreed to reimburse operating expenses of the Fund in an amount sufficient to limit Other Expenses in the table above at no more than 0.20% for Class I Shares and Class N Shares. "Other Expenses" include all Fund operating expenses other than management fees and 12b-1 fees and exclude interest, taxes, dividends on short sales, borrowing costs, acquired fund fees and expenses, interest expense relating to short sales, expenses related to class action claims and extraordinary expenses. This agreement (the "Expense Limitation Agreement") will continue at least through April 30, 2022. The Expense Limitation Agreement may be terminated with the consent of the Board of Trustees, including a majority of the Non-Interested Trustees of the Trust. The Adviser is entitled to recapture any expenses reimbursed during the thirty-six month period following the end of the month during which the Adviser reimbursed expenses, provided that the amount recaptured may not cause Other Expenses attributable to a share class of the Fund during a year in which a repayment is made to exceed either of (i) the applicable limits in effect at the time of the reimbursement and (ii) the applicable limits in effect at the time of recapture.
Example: This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same and takes into account the effect of the Expense Limitation Agreement through April 30, 2022, as discussed in Footnote No. 3 to the Fee Table. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
1 Year
3 Years
Class I Shares
$165
$520
Class N Shares
$190
$597
AQR Diversifying Strategies Fund
Fund Summary — May 27, 2020
Investment Objective
The AQR Diversifying Strategies Fund (the "Fund") seeks capital apprec