[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 24 (Monday, February 5, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5153-5154]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-02169]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Investment Company Act Release No. 32998; File No. 812-14842]


Columbia Funds Series Trust, et al.

January 30, 2018.
AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'').

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice of an application for an order pursuant to: (a) Section 6(c) 
of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (``Act'') granting an exemption 
from sections 18(f) and 21(b) of the Act; (b) section 12(d)(1)(J) of 
the Act granting an exemption from section 12(d)(1) of the Act; (c) 
sections 6(c) and 17(b) of the Act granting an exemption from sections 
17(a)(1), 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Act; and (d) section 17(d) of 
the Act and rule 17d-1 under the Act to permit certain joint 
arrangements and transactions. Applicants request an order that would 
permit certain registered open-end management investment companies to 
participate in a joint lending and borrowing facility.\1\
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    \1\ The requested order would supersede an exemptive order 
issued by the Commission on October 24, 2006, with the result that 
no person will continue to rely on the prior order if the order is 
granted. RiverSource Diversified Income Series, Inc., et al., 
Investment Company Act Release Nos. 27506 (September 28, 2006) 
(notice) and 27525 (October 24, 2016) (order). All existing entities 
that currently intend to rely on the order have been named as 
applicants. Any other existing or future entity that relies on the 
order in the future will comply with the terms and conditions of the 
application.

Applicants:  Columbia Funds Series Trust, Columbia Funds Series Trust 
I, Columbia Funds Series Trust II, Columbia Funds Variable Insurance 
Trust, Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II, Columbia ETF Trust I 
and Columbia ETF Trust II (each a ``Trust'' and collectively, the 
``Trusts''), each registered under the Act as open-end management 
investment companies with one or more series, and Columbia Management 
Investment Advisers, LLC (``Columbia Management''), registered as an 
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investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

Filing Date:  The application was filed on November 9, 2017.

Hearing or Notification of Hearing:  An order granting the requested 
relief will be issued unless the Commission orders a hearing. 
Interested persons may request a hearing by writing to the Commission's 
Secretary and serving applicants with a copy of the request, personally 
or by mail. Hearing requests should be received by the Commission by 
5:30 p.m. on February 26, 2018 and should be accompanied by proof of 
service on the applicants, in the form of an affidavit, or, for 
lawyers, a certificate of service. Pursuant to Rule 0-5 under the Act, 
hearing requests should state the nature of the writer's interest, any 
facts bearing upon the desirability of a hearing on the matter, the 
reason for the request, and the issues contested. Persons who wish to 
be notified of a hearing may request notification by writing to the 
Commission's Secretary.

ADDRESSES:  Secretary, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F 
Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090; Applicants: c/o Brian D. McCabe, 
Esq. and Nathan D. Somogie, Esq., Rope & Gray LLP, Prudential Tower, 
800 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02199.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Hae-Sung Lee, Attorney-Adviser, at 
(202) 551-7345 or Robert H. Shapiro, Branch Chief, at (202) 551-6821 
(Division of Investment Management, Chief Counsel's Office).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  The following is a summary of the 
application. The complete application may be obtained via the 
Commission's website by searching for the file number, or an applicant 
using the Company name box, at http://www.sec.gov/search/search.htm or 
by calling (202) 551-8090.

Summary of the Application

    1. Applicants request an order that would permit the applicants to 
participate in an interfund lending facility where each Fund could lend 
money directly to and borrow money directly from other Funds to cover 
unanticipated cash shortfalls, such as unanticipated redemptions or 
trade fails.\2\ The Funds will not borrow under the facility for 
leverage purposes and the loans' duration will be no more than 7 
days.\3\
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    \2\ Applicants request that the order apply to the applicants 
and to any existing or future series of the Trusts and to any other 
registered open-end or closed-end management investment company or 
its series for which Columbia Management and each successor thereto 
or a person controlling, controlled by, or under common control with 
Columbia Management serves as investment adviser (each such 
investment adviser may be referred to as an ``Adviser'' and 
collectively, the ``Advisers''). For purposes of the requested 
order, ``successor'' is limited to any entity that results from a 
reorganization into another jurisdiction or a change in the type of 
a business organization. The Funds that are closed-end management 
investment companies will not participate as borrowers in the 
interfund lending facility.
    \3\ Any Fund, however, will be able to call a loan on one 
business day's notice.
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    2. Applicants anticipate that the proposed facility would provide a 
borrowing Fund with a source of liquidity at a rate lower than the bank 
borrowing rate at times when the cash position of the Fund is 
insufficient to meet temporary cash requirements. In addition, Funds 
making short-term cash loans directly to other Funds would earn 
interest at a rate higher than they otherwise could obtain from 
investing their cash in repurchase agreements or certain other short 
term money market instruments. Thus, applicants assert that the 
facility would benefit both borrowing and lending Funds.
    3. Applicants agree that any order granting the requested relief 
will be subject to the terms and conditions stated in the Application. 
Among others, the Adviser, through a designated committee, would 
administer the facility as a disinterested fiduciary as part of its 
duties under the investment management and administrative agreements 
with the Funds and would receive no additional fee as compensation for 
its services in connection with the administration of the facility. The 
facility would be subject to oversight and certain approvals by the 
Funds' Board, including, among others, approval of the interest rate 
formula and of the method for allocating loans across Funds, as well as 
review of the process in place to evaluate the liquidity implications 
for the Funds. A Fund's aggregate outstanding interfund loans will not 
exceed 15% of its net assets, and the Fund's loans to any one Fund will 
not exceed 5% of the lending Fund's net assets.\4\
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    \4\ Under certain circumstances, a borrowing Fund will be 
required to pledge collateral to secure the loan.
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    4. Applicants assert that the facility does not raise the concerns 
underlying section 12(d)(1) of the Act given that the Funds are part of 
the same group of investment companies and there will be no duplicative 
costs or fees to the Funds.\5\ Applicants also assert that the proposed 
transactions do not raise the concerns underlying sections 17(a)(1), 
17(a)(3), 17(d) and 21(b) of the Act as the Funds would not engage in 
lending transactions that unfairly benefit

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insiders or are detrimental to the Funds. Applicants state that the 
facility will offer both reduced borrowing costs and enhanced returns 
on loaned funds to all participating Funds and each Fund would have an 
equal opportunity to borrow and lend on equal terms based on an 
interest rate formula that is objective and verifiable. With respect to 
the relief from section 17(a)(2) of the Act, applicants note that any 
collateral pledged to secure an interfund loan would be subject to the 
same conditions imposed by any other lender to a Fund that imposes 
conditions on the quality of or access to collateral for a borrowing 
(if the lender is another Fund) or the same or better conditions (in 
any other circumstance).\6\
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    \5\ Applicants state that the obligation to repay an interfund 
loan could be deemed to constitute a security for the purposes of 
sections 17(a)(1) and 12(d)(1) of the Act.
    \6\ Applicants state that any pledge of securities to secure an 
interfund loan could constitute a purchase of securities for 
purposes of section 17(a)(2) of the Act.
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    5. Applicants also believe that the limited relief from section 
18(f)(1) of the Act that is necessary to implement the facility 
(because the lending Funds are not banks) is appropriate in light of 
the conditions and safeguards described in the application and because 
the Funds would remain subject to the requirement of section 18(f)(1) 
that all borrowings of a Fund, including combined interfund loans and 
bank borrowings, have at least 300% asset coverage.
    6. Section 6(c) of the Act permits the Commission to exempt any 
persons or transactions from any provision of the Act if such exemption 
is necessary or appropriate in the public interest and consistent with 
the protection of investors and the purposes fairly intended by the 
policy and provisions of the Act. Section 12(d)(1)(J) of the Act 
provides that the Commission may exempt any person, security, or 
transaction, or any class or classes of persons, securities, or 
transactions, from any provision of section 12(d)(1) if the exemption 
is consistent with the public interest and the protection of investors. 
Section 17(b) of the Act authorizes the Commission to grant an order 
permitting a transaction otherwise prohibited by section 17(a) if it 
finds that (a) the terms of the proposed transaction are fair and 
reasonable and do not involve overreaching on the part of any person 
concerned; (b) the proposed transaction is consistent with the policies 
of each registered investment company involved; and (c) the proposed 
transaction is consistent with the general purposes of the Act. Rule 
17d-1(b) under the Act provides that in passing upon an application 
filed under the rule, the Commission will consider whether the 
participation of the registered investment company in a joint 
enterprise, joint arrangement or profit sharing plan on the basis 
proposed is consistent with the provisions, policies and purposes of 
the Act and the extent to which such participation is on a basis 
different from or less advantageous than that of the other 
participants.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Investment Management, 
under delegated authority.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-02169 Filed 2-2-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8011-01-P


