FIRST EAGLE VARIABLE FUNDS
First Eagle Overseas Variable Fund
1345 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10105
(800) 747-2008
SUPPLEMENT DATED OCTOBER 15, 2019
TO STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DATED APRIL 30, 2019
This Supplement is intended to highlight certain changes to the Statement of Additional Information dated April 30, 2019, as may be amended or supplemented. Please review these matters carefully.
Appointment of Mehdi Mahmud to the Trust’s Board of Trustees
On September 12, 2019, the Board of Trustees of First Eagle Variable Funds (the “Trust”) approved the appointment of Mr. Mehdi Mahmud to serve as a Trustee on the Board of Trustees. Mr. Mahmud is also (since June 2017) President of the Trust and of First Eagle Funds, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Eagle Investment Management, LLC (the “Adviser”), Director of First Eagle Amundi and Chief Executive Officer and President of First Eagle Private Credit, LLC. Previously, Mr. Mahmud was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Jennison Associates LLC.
Appointment of Jean-Marie Eveillard as Trustee Emeritus and Resignation of Jean-Marie Eveillard from the Trust’s Board of Trustees
At the same time, the Board of Trustees also approved the appointment of Mr. Jean-Marie Eveillard to serve as a Trustee Emeritus and accepted his resignation as a Trustee (a position he had held since June 2008). As a Trustee Emeritus, Mr. Eveillard will be a non-voting member of the Board, serving initially for a two-year term. Since March 2009, Mr. Eveillard also has been a Senior Advisor to the Adviser. Mr. Eveillard was formerly Senior Vice President of the Adviser and a Portfolio Manager of each of First Eagle Global Fund, First Eagle Overseas Fund, First Eagle U.S. Value Fund, First Eagle Gold Fund and First Eagle Variable Funds (1979-2004; March 2007-March 2009).
To reflect Messrs. Mahmud’s and Eveillard’s new roles, the following information is included (and if inconsistent, replaces) the information included in the sections entitled “Management of the Trust—Interested Trustees,” “Management of the Trust—Trustee Qualifications,” “Management of the Trust—Compensation of Trustees and Officers—Trustee Compensation Table” and “Management of the Trust—Additional Information Regarding the Trustees.” This information is provided as of October 15, 2019.
The following replaces the information included in the section entitled “Management of the Trust—Interested Trustees” on page 23 of the Statement of Additional Information:
INTERESTED TRUSTEES(1)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Name, Address and Age |
Position(s) |
Term of |
Principal |
Number of |
Other |
|||||
John P. Arnhold |
Trustee |
December 1999 to present |
Director, First Eagle Holdings, Inc.; Managing Member, Arnhold LLC; prior to July 2017, Director, First Eagle Investment Management LLC; President, First Eagle Funds; President, First Eagle Variable Funds; Director, FEF Distributors, LLC; prior to March 2016, Co-President and Co-CEO First Eagle Holdings, Inc.; CIO and Chairman, First Eagle Investment Management, LLC; CEO and Chairman, FEF Distributors, LLC |
8 |
Trustee, First Eagle Funds (7 portfolios); Chairman and Director, Arnhold Ceramics; Director, The Arnhold Foundation; Director, The Mulago Foundation; Director, WNET.org; Trustee Emeritus, Trinity Episcopal Schools Corp.; Trustee, Jazz at Lincoln Center; Life Trustee, International Tennis Hall of Fame; Member, Investment Committee of the USTA; Managing Member, New Eagle Holdings Management Company, LLC; Trustee, UC Santa Barbara Foundation; prior to January 2018, Director, First Eagle Amundi; prior to June 2016, Trustee, Vassar College; Director, Conservation International |
|||||
Mehdi Mahmud |
Trustee |
September 2019 to present |
President and Chief Executive Officer, First Eagle Investment Management, LLC; President, First Eagle Funds and First Eagle Variable Funds; prior to March 2016, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jennison Associates LLC |
8 |
Trustee; First Eagle Funds (7 portfolios); Director, First Eagle Amundi |
(1) |
Each of Messrs. Arnhold and Mahmud is treated as an Interested Trustee because of the professional roles each holds or has held with the Adviser. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(2) |
The term of office of each Interested Trustee is indefinite. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* * *
The following information is hereby added to the section entitled “Management of the Trust—Trustee Qualifications” following the introductory phrase “The following summarizes the experience and qualifications of the Trustees:” beginning on page 28 of the Statement of Additional Information:
Mr. Mehdi Mahmud. Mr. Mahmud has significant executive and investment management experience. Currently, Mr. Mahmud serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of First Eagle Investment Management, LLC, and President of First Eagle Funds and First Eagle Variable Funds. Prior to that, Mr. Mahmud was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Jennison Associates LLC. Prior to these roles, he held several senior management positions at
Jennison relating to product and business strategy, investment supervision of the firm’s value, small-cap, opportunistic and income-equity capabilities, and oversight of key support areas including institutional, retail and sub-advisory client activities. He has also served in a variety of investment management roles at JP Morgan Investment Management and Credit Suisse Asset Management.
The description of Mr. Eveillard’s qualifications in the section entitled “Management of the Trust—Trustee Qualifications” following the introductory phrase “The following summarizes the experience and qualifications of the Trustees:” on page 29 of the Statement of Additional Information is hereby deleted.
* * *
The following section is hereby added immediately following the section referenced above:
Trustee Emeritus
The Board has created a position of Trustee Emeritus, whereby an incumbent Trustee, in the sole discretion of the Board, may serve as Trustee Emeritus for an initial and renewable two-year term.
A Trustee Emeritus receives no compensation, but will be reimbursed for any expenses incurred in connection with their service, including expenses of travel and lodging incurred in attendance at Board meetings (such reimbursements in Mr. Eveillard’s case to be expenses of the Adviser). A Trustee Emeritus will continue to receive relevant materials concerning the Fund, will be invited to attend regularly scheduled quarterly meetings of the Board each year and will be available to consult with the Committees or its representatives at reasonable times upon request. A Trustee Emeritus does not have any voting rights at Board meetings, is not considered to be a Trustee under either the 1940 Act or Delaware law, and is not subject to election by shareholders of the Fund.
The following summarizes the experience and qualifications of the Trustee Emeritus:
Mr. Jean-Marie Eveillard. Mr. Eveillard has significant portfolio management experience. Currently serving as a Senior Advisor with First Eagle Investment Management, LLC, he was the portfolio manager of Overseas Variable Fund from its inception until 2004 and again from 2007-2009. Mr. Eveillard has been recognized in the press and by mutual fund ranking organizations as a leading value investor and is the recipient of multiple lifetime achievement awards for his service to the field and long-term record of investment performance. Mr. Eveillard also serves on the board of a French investment advisory firm, a South African money management firm, and various charitable institutions.
* * *
The following is added to the information included in the section entitled “Management of the Trust—Compensation of Trustees and Officers—Trustee Compensation Table” beginning on page 30 of the Statement of Additional Information:
Trustee Compensation Table
Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2018
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
Name of Person, Position |
Aggregate |
Total |
||||||||||||
|
Mehdi Mahmud, Trustee* |
|
|
$ |
|
— |
|
|
$ |
|
— |
||||
* |
Interested Trustee. Mr. Mahmud was appointed effective September 2019. He is not compensated by the Trust for his services. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* * *
The following is added to the information included in the section entitled “Management of the Trust—Additional Information Regarding the Trustees” on page 31 of the Statement of Additional Information:
INTERESTED TRUSTEES
|
|
|
|
|
Name |
Dollar |
Aggregate |
||
|
Mehdi Mahmud* |
A |
E |
* |
Mr. Mahmud was appointed effective September 2019. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* * * *
The information in this Supplement modifies the First Eagle Variable Funds’ Statement of Additional Information dated April 30, 2019. In particular, and without limitation, the information contained in this Supplement replaces information contained in the section of the Statement of Additional Information entitled “Management of the Trust” appearing on pages 21 to 32.