Pear Tree Columbia Small Cap Fund (USBNX / QBNAX)

Portfolio Management
The Fund is subadvised by Columbia Partners, L.L.C. Investment Management and has been managed by Robert von Pentz, CFA and Rhys Williams, CFA. Mr. von Pentz has spent most of his 28 year career designing and implementing strategies which he has integrated into the investment process for the Fund. As Chief Investment Officer, Bob has the responsibility for all of Columbia Partner’s publicly traded investment activities. Rhys Williams serves as Senior Equity Portfolio Manager and is team leader on the small cap portfolios.

Investment Philosophy
The Fund seeks investment opportunities among small cap companies with market caps of $250 million to $2 billion. The Fund invests in companies that have superior growth prospects but share prices that do not fully reflect their potential.

Portfolio Construction
The Fund generally invests in stocks found within the Russell 2000 index.  The Fund utilizes a proprietary quantitative model for data collection and verification, sector/industry study, and company catalyst identification. The Fund’s rigorous stock selection process also includes bottom-up fundamental analysis as well as a top down perspective to ensure diversified industry exposure. Risk controls are also employed to help prevent the Fund from concentrating investments in any particular industry or sector.

Disclosure
- Foreign Exposure. Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments and can perform differently from the U.S. market.
- Small Cap Investing. The value of securities of smaller, less well-known issuers can perform differently from the market as a whole and other types of stocks and can be more volatile than that of larger issuers.
- Real Estate Industry. Changes in real estate values or economic downturns can have a significant negative effect on issuers in the real estate industry