First Eagle Global Income Builder Fund Marks Five-Year Anniversary

Business Wire

A top-quartile income fund for individual investors, institutions and retirement savers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- First Eagle Investment Management is pleased to announce that First Eagle Global Income Builder Fund (the Fund) marked its five-year anniversary on May 1, 2017. The Fund had an average annualized return of 6.82% for the institutional class shares (FEBIX), outperforming its Morningstar World Allocation category median by 1.29% over the five-year period ended May 1, 2017. The overall multi-asset income strategy had total net assets of $3.1 billion globally, of which the Fund represented $1.3 billion.

Aiming for both current income and long-term growth of capital, the Fund employs a highly flexible, benchmark-agnostic approach. Based on in-house bottom-up research, co-managers Kimball Brooker, Edward Meigs and Sean Slein select equities and fixed income investments from around the globe. Downside protection—defined as the avoidance of permanent impairment of capital—is a key area of focus. The Fund is available in share classes directed at individual investors, institutions and participants in group retirement plans.

“When we launched the fund in 2012, we thought that historically low interest rates were likely to challenge income investors for years to come. We looked to our fixed income allocation for the potential ballast of sustainable income and to our equity allocation for dividend income and potential real growth relative to inflation,” said Kimball Brooker, deputy head of the Global Value team and portfolio manager. “By staying true to what we believe is a prudent investment philosophy—taking on less credit risk and not chasing yield—we have tended to differ from our peers. We go where we believe the opportunities are, but we are very cognizant of risk.”

The Morningstar percentile rankings for the First Eagle Global Income Builder Fund in the Morningstar World Allocation category were derived using the total return of the performance figure associated with its 1-, 3- and 5-year time periods as of 05/01/17. First Eagle Global Income Builder Class I: Morningstar percentile rankings were: 38% for the 1-year (179/467), 33% for the 3-year (130/402) and 19% for the 5-year (62/335) when compared against the Morningstar World Allocation category. Different share classes have different ratings.

“In a low-yield environment where rates have been expected to normalize, financial advisors have been eager to find investment solutions for their clients that can provide sustainable income without undue exposure to interest-rate risk,” said Robert Bruno, head of retail distribution at First Eagle Investment Management and president of FEF Distributors. “Many advisors have turned to our fund over the last five years, giving their clients the potential to benefit from its solid investment performance.”

About First Eagle Investment Management

First Eagle is an independent investment management firm that manages approximately $105 billion in assets (as of 3/31/17) on behalf of institutional and individual clients. With the core purpose of providing prudent stewardship of client assets, the firm offers active, fundamental, benchmark-agnostic strategies, with a strong focus on downside protection. First Eagle’s investment capabilities include equity, fixed income and multi-asset strategies. Over a long history dating back to 1864, First Eagle has helped its clients avoid permanent impairment of capital and earn attractive returns through widely varied economic cycles—a tradition that is central to its mission today. First Eagle Investment Management is the adviser to First Eagle Funds. For more information, please visit www.feim.com.

Private equity funds owned by The Blackstone Capital Partners and Corsair Capital own a majority stake in First Eagle Investment Management.

Average Annual Returns as of 3/31/2017 (%)

			YTD	1 Year	3 Years	Since Inception (5/1/12)	Expense Ratio*
First Eagle Global Income Builder Fund	Class I	FEBIX	4.71	11.92	3.20	6.68	0.92
Composite Index°°			4.13	8.88	4.52	6.82
MSCI World Index			6.38	14.77	5.52	9.70
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index			0.82	0.44	2.68	2.17

The performance data quoted herein represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Market volatility can dramatically impact the Fund’s short-term performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than figures shown. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Past performance data through the most recent month end is available at www.feim.com or by calling 800.334.2143.

* The annual expense ratio is based on expenses incurred by the Fund, as stated in the most recent prospectus.

Had fees not been waived and/or expenses reimbursed in the past, returns would have been lower.

Class I Shares require $1mm minimum investment, and are offered without sales charge. Performance information is for class I Shares without the effect of sales charges and assumes all distributions have been reinvested and if a sales charge was included values would be lower. Class A and C Shares have maximum sales charges of 5.00% and 1.00% respectively, and 12b-1 fees, which reduce performance.

°° The composite index consists of 60% of the MSCI World Index and 40% of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index.

There are risks associated with investing in securities of foreign countries, such as erratic market conditions, economic and political instability and fluctuations in currency exchange rates. These risks may be more pronounced with respect to investments in emerging markets.

Investments in bonds are subject to interest-rate risk and can lose principal value when interest rates rise. Bonds are also subject to credit risk, in which the bond issuer may fail to pay interest and principal in a timely manner, or that negative perception of the issuer’s ability to make such payments may cause the price of that bond to decline.

High yield securities (commonly known as “junk bonds”) are generally considered speculative because they may be subject to greater levels of interest rate, credit (including issuer default) and liquidity risk than investment grade securities and may be subject to greater volatility. The Fund invests in high yield securities that are non-investment grade. High yield, lower rated securities involve greater price volatility and present greater risks than high rated fixed income securities. High yield securities are rated lower than investment grade securities because there is a greater possibility that the issuer may be unable to make interest and principal payments on those securities.

Bank loans are often less liquid than other types of debt instruments. There is no assurance that the liquidation of any collateral from a secured bank loan would satisfy the borrower’s obligation, or that such collateral could be liquidated.

Income generation is not guaranteed. If dividend paying stocks in the Fund’s portfolio stop paying or reduce dividends, the Fund’s ability to generate income will be adversely affected.

The principal risk of investing in value stocks is that the price of the security may not approach its anticipated value or may decline in value.

Investment in gold and gold related investments present certain risks, and returns on gold related investments have traditionally been more volatile than investments in broader equity or debt markets. Physical gold does not produce income.

All investments involve the risk of loss or principal.

2017 Morningstar, Inc.© All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The MSCI World Index is a widely followed, unmanaged group of stocks from 23 developed market countries and is not available for purchase. The index provides total returns in U.S. dollars with net dividends reinvested. One cannot invest directly in an index.

The Bloomberg Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based unmanaged benchmark that measures the investment grade, U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, MBS (agency fixed-rate and hybrid ARM passthroughs), ABS, and CMBS, and is not available for purchase.

Investors should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus and summary prospectus contain this and other information about the Funds and may be obtained by asking your financial adviser or calling us at 800.334.2143. Please read our prospectus carefully before investing. For further information about the First Eagle Funds, please call 800.334.2143.