EXHIBIT D8
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ INVESTORS TRUST
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▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
April 4, 2003
Deutsche Investment Management Americas Inc.
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▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ S&P 500 STOCK FUND
Ladies and Gentlemen:
▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ Investors Trust (the "Trust") has been established as a Massachusetts
business Trust to engage in the business of an investment company. Pursuant to
the Trust's Declaration of Trust, as amended from time-to-time (the
"Declaration"), the Board of Trustees is authorized to issue the Trust's shares
of beneficial interest, par value $0.01 per share, (the "Shares") in separate
series, or funds. The Board of Trustees has authorized ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ S&P 500 Stock
Fund (the "Fund"). Series may be abolished and dissolved, and additional series
established, from time to time by action of the Trustees.
The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has selected you to act as the investment
manager of the Fund and to provide certain other services, as more fully set
forth below, and you have indicated that you are willing to act as such
investment manager and to perform such services under the terms and conditions
hereinafter set forth. Accordingly, the Trust on behalf of the Fund agrees with
you as follows:
1. Delivery of Documents. The Trust engages in the business of investing
and reinvesting the assets of the Fund in the manner and in accordance with the
investment objectives, policies and restrictions specified in the currently
effective Prospectus (the "Prospectus") and Statement of Additional Information
(the "SAI") relating to the Fund included in the Trust's Registration Statement
on Form N-1A, as amended from time to time (the "Registration Statement"), filed
by the Trust under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940
Act"), and the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Copies of the documents
referred to in the preceding sentence have been furnished to you by the Trust.
The Trust has also furnished you with copies properly certified or authenticated
of each of the following additional documents related to the Trust and the Fund:
(a) The Declaration, as amended to date.
(b) By-Laws of the Trust as in effect on the date hereof (the
"By-Laws").
(c) Resolutions of the Trustees of the Trust and the shareholders of
the Fund selecting you as investment manager and approving the
form of this Agreement.
(d) Establishment and Designation of Series of Shares of Beneficial
Interest dated March 22, 2000 relating to the Fund.
The Trust will furnish you from time to time with copies, properly certified or
authenticated, of all amendments of or supplements, if any, to the foregoing,
including the Prospectus, the SAI and the Registration Statement.
2. Portfolio Management Services. As manager of the assets of the Fund, you
shall provide continuing investment management of the assets of the Fund in
accordance with the investment objectives, policies and restrictions set forth
in the Prospectus and SAI; the applicable provisions of the 1940 Act and the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), relating to regulated
investment companies and all rules and regulations thereunder; and all other
applicable federal and state laws and regulations of which you have knowledge;
subject always to policies and instructions adopted by the Trust's Board of
Trustees. In connection therewith, you shall use reasonable efforts to manage
the Fund so that it will qualify as a regulated investment company under
Subchapter M of the Code and regulations issued thereunder. The Fund shall have
the benefit of the investment analysis and research, the review of current
economic conditions and trends and the consideration of long-range investment
policy generally available to your investment advisory clients. In managing the
Fund in accordance with the requirements set forth in this section 2, you shall
be entitled to receive and act upon advice of counsel to the Trust. You shall
also make available to the Trust promptly upon request all of the Fund's
investment records and ledgers as are necessary to assist the Trust in complying
with the requirements of the 1940 Act and other applicable laws. To the extent
required by law, you shall furnish to regulatory authorities having the
requisite authority any information or reports in connection with the services
provided pursuant to this Agreement which may be requested in order to ascertain
whether the operations of the Trust are being conducted in a manner consistent
with applicable laws and regulations.
You shall determine the securities, instruments, investments, currencies,
repurchase agreements, futures, options and other contracts relating to
investments to be purchased, sold or entered into by the Fund and place orders
with broker-dealers, foreign currency dealers, futures commission merchants or
others pursuant to your determinations and all in accordance with Fund policies
as expressed in the Registration Statement. You shall determine what portion of
the Fund's portfolio shall be invested in securities and other assets and what
portion, if any, should be held uninvested.
You shall furnish to the Trust's Board of Trustees periodic reports on the
investment performance of the Fund and on the performance of your obligations
pursuant to this Agreement, and you shall supply such additional reports and
information as the Trust's officers or Board of Trustees shall reasonably
request.
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3. Delegation of Portfolio Management Services. Subject to the prior
approval of a majority of the members of the Fund's Board of Trustees, including
a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons," as defined in the
1940 Act, and, where required, the shareholders of the Fund, you may, through a
sub-advisory agreement or other arrangement, (1) delegate to a sub-advisor any
or all of your duties enumerated in section 2 hereof and (2) delegate to any
other company that you control, is controlled by you, or is under common control
with you, or to specified employees of any such companies, or to more than one
such company, to the extent permitted by applicable law, any and all of your
duties enumerated in section 2 hereof; and may adjust the duties of such entity,
the portion of portfolio assets of the Fund that such entity shall manage and
the fees to be paid to such entity; provided, that with respect to the
delegations you shall continue to supervise the services provided by any such
sub-advisor or any such company or employees and any such delegation shall not
relieve you of any of your obligations hereunder (including without limitation
the management of the Fund's assets in accordance with this agreement).
4. Administrative Services. In addition to the portfolio management
services specified above in section 2, you shall furnish at your expense for the
use of the Fund such office space and facilities in the United States as the
Fund may require for its reasonable needs, and you (or one or more of your
affiliates designated by you) shall render to the Trust administrative services
on behalf of the Fund necessary for operating as an open end investment company
and not provided by persons not parties to this Agreement including, but not
limited to, preparing reports to and meeting materials for the Trust's Board of
Trustees and reports and notices to Fund shareholders; supervising, negotiating
contractual arrangements with, to the extent appropriate, and monitoring the
performance of, accounting agents, custodians, depositories, transfer agents and
pricing agents, accountants, attorneys, printers, underwriters, brokers and
dealers, insurers and other persons in any capacity deemed to be necessary or
desirable to Fund operations; preparing and making filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and other regulatory and self-regulatory
organizations, including, but not limited to, preliminary and definitive proxy
materials, post-effective amendments to the Registration Statement, semi-annual
reports on Form N-SAR and notices pursuant to Rule 24f-2 under the 1940 Act;
overseeing the tabulation of proxies by the Fund's transfer agent; assisting in
the preparation and filing of the Fund's federal, state and local tax returns;
preparing and filing the Fund's federal excise tax return pursuant to Section
4982 of the Code; providing assistance with investor and public relations
matters; monitoring the valuation of portfolio securities and the calculation of
net asset value; monitoring the registration of Shares of the Fund under
applicable federal and state securities laws; maintaining or causing to be
maintained for the Fund all books, records and reports and any other information
required under the 1940 Act, to the extent that such books, records and reports
and other information are not maintained by the Fund's custodian or other agents
of the Fund; assisting in establishing the accounting policies of the Fund;
assisting in the resolution of accounting issues that may arise with respect to
the Fund's operations and consulting with the Fund's independent accountants,
legal counsel and the Fund's other agents as necessary in connection therewith;
establishing and monitoring the Fund's operating expense budgets; reviewing the
Fund's bills; processing the payment of bills that have been approved by an
authorized person; assisting the Fund in determining the amount of dividends and
distributions available to be paid by the Fund to its shareholders, preparing
and arranging for the printing of dividend notices to shareholders, and
providing the transfer and dividend paying
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agent, the custodian, and the accounting agent with such information as is
required for such parties to effect the payment of dividends and distributions;
and otherwise assisting the Trust as it may reasonably request in the conduct of
the Fund's business, subject to the direction and control of the Trust's Board
of Trustees. Nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to shift to you or to
diminish the obligations of any agent of the Fund or any other person not a
party to this Agreement which is obligated to provide services to the Fund.
5. Allocation of Charges and Expenses. Except as otherwise specifically
provided in this section 4, you shall pay the compensation and expenses of all
Trustees, officers and executive employees of the Trust (including the Fund's
share of payroll taxes) who are affiliated persons of you, and you shall make
available, without expense to the Fund, the services of such of your directors,
officers and employees as may duly be elected officers of the Trust, subject to
their individual consent to serve and to any limitations imposed by law. You
shall provide at your expense the portfolio management services described in
section 2 hereof and the administrative services described in section 3 hereof.
You shall not be required to pay any expenses of the Fund other than those
specifically allocated to you in this section 4. In particular, but without
limiting the generality of the foregoing, you shall not be responsible, except
to the extent of the reasonable compensation of such of the Fund's Trustees and
officers as are directors, officers or employees of you whose services may be
involved, for the following expenses of the Fund: organization expenses of the
Fund (including out of-pocket expenses, but not including your overhead or
employee costs); fees payable to you and to any other Fund advisors or
consultants; legal expenses; auditing and accounting expenses; maintenance of
books and records which are required to be maintained by the Fund's custodian or
other agents of the Trust; telephone, telex, facsimile, postage and other
communications expenses; taxes and governmental fees; fees, dues and expenses
incurred by the Fund in connection with membership in investment company trade
organizations; fees and expenses of the Fund's accounting agent for which the
Trust is responsible pursuant to the terms of the Fund Accounting Services
Agreement, custodians, subcustodians, transfer agents, dividend disbursing
agents and registrars; payment for portfolio pricing or valuation services to
pricing agents, accountants, bankers and other specialists, if any; expenses of
preparing share certificates and, except as provided below in this section 4,
other expenses in connection with the issuance, offering, distribution, sale,
redemption or repurchase of securities issued by the Fund; expenses relating to
investor and public relations; expenses and fees of registering or qualifying
Shares of the Fund for sale; interest charges, bond premiums and other insurance
expense; freight, insurance and other charges in connection with the shipment of
the Fund's portfolio securities; the compensation and all expenses (specifically
including travel expenses relating to Trust business) of Trustees, officers and
employees of the Trust who are not affiliated persons of you; brokerage
commissions or other costs of acquiring or disposing of any portfolio securities
of the Fund; expenses of printing and distributing reports, notices and
dividends to shareholders; expenses of printing and mailing Prospectuses and
SAIs of the Fund and supplements thereto; costs of stationery; any litigation
expenses; indemnification of Trustees and officers of the Trust; and costs of
shareholders' and other meetings.
You shall not be required to pay expenses of any activity which is primarily
intended to result in sales of Shares of the Fund if and to the extent that (i)
such expenses are required to be borne by
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a principal underwriter which acts as the distributor of the Fund's Shares
pursuant to an underwriting agreement which provides that the underwriter shall
assume some or all of such expenses, or (ii) the Trust on behalf of the Fund
shall have adopted a plan in conformity with Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act
providing that the Fund (or some other party) shall assume some or all of such
expenses. You shall be required to pay such of the foregoing sales expenses as
are not required to be paid by the principal underwriter pursuant to the
underwriting agreement or are not permitted to be paid by the Fund (or some
other party) pursuant to such a plan.
6. Management Fee. For all services to be rendered, payments to be made and
costs to be assumed by you as provided in sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 hereof, the
Trust on behalf of the Fund shall pay you in United States Dollars on the last
day of each month the unpaid balance of a fee equal to the excess of 1/12 of
0.33 of 1 percent of the average daily net assets as defined below of the Fund
for such month; provided that, for any calendar month during which the average
of such values exceeds $100,000,000 the fee payable for that month based on the
portion of the average of such values in excess of $100,000,000 shall be 1/12 of
0.29 of 1 percent of such portion; provided further that, for any calendar month
during which the average of such values exceeds $200,000,000 the fee payable for
that month based on the portion of the average of such values in excess of
$200,000,000 shall be 1/12 of 0.27 of 1 percent of such portion; over the lowest
applicable expense fully described below or over any compensation waived by you
from time to time (as more fully described below). You shall be entitled to
receive during any month such interim payments of your fee hereunder as you
shall request, provided that no such payment shall exceed 75 percent of the
amount of your fee then accrued on the books of the Fund and unpaid.
The "average daily net assets" of the Fund shall mean the average of the values
placed on the Fund's net assets as of 4:00 p.m. (New York time) on each day on
which the net asset value of the Fund is determined consistent with the
provisions of Rule 22c-1 under the 1940 Act or, if the Fund lawfully determines
the value of its net assets as of some other time on each business day, as of
such time. The value of the net assets of the Fund shall always be determined
pursuant to the applicable provisions of the Declaration and the Registration
Statement. If the determination of net asset value does not take place for any
particular day, then for the purposes of this section 5, the value of the net
assets of the Fund as last determined shall be deemed to be the value of its net
assets as of 4:00 p.m. (New York time), or as of such other time as the value of
the net assets of the Fund's portfolio may be lawfully determined on that day.
If the Fund determines the value of the net assets of its portfolio more than
once on any day, then the last such determination thereof on that day shall be
deemed to be the sole determination thereof on that day for the purposes of this
section 5.
You may waive all or a portion of your fees provided for hereunder and such
waiver shall be treated as a reduction in purchase price of your services. You
shall be contractually bound hereunder by the terms of any publicly announced
waiver of your fee, or any limitation of the Fund's expenses, as if such waiver
or limitation were fully set forth herein.
7. Avoidance of Inconsistent Position; Services Not Exclusive. In
connection with purchases or sales of portfolio securities and other investments
for the account of the Fund, neither you nor any of your directors, officers or
employees shall act as a principal or agent or receive any commission. You or
your agent shall arrange for the placing of all orders for the
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purchase and sale of portfolio securities and other investments for the Fund's
account with brokers or dealers selected by you in accordance with Fund policies
as expressed in the Registration Statement. If any occasion should arise in
which you give any advice to clients of yours concerning the Shares of the Fund,
you shall act solely as investment counsel for such clients and not in any way
on behalf of the Fund.
Your services to the Fund pursuant to this Agreement are not to be deemed to be
exclusive and it is understood that you may render investment advice, management
and services to others. In acting under this Agreement, you shall be an
independent contractor and not an agent of the Trust. Whenever the Fund and one
or more other accounts or investment companies advised by you have available
funds for investment, investments suitable and appropriate for each shall be
allocated in accordance with procedures believed by you to be equitable to each
entity. Similarly, opportunities to sell securities shall be allocated in a
manner believed by you to be equitable. The Fund recognizes that in some cases
this procedure may adversely affect the size of the position that may be
acquired or disposed of for the Fund.
8. Limitation of Liability of Manager. As an inducement to your undertaking
to render services pursuant to this Agreement, the Trust agrees that you shall
not be liable under this Agreement for any error of judgment or mistake of law
or for any loss suffered by the Fund in connection with the matters to which
this Agreement relates, provided that nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed
to protect or purport to protect you against any liability to the Trust, the
Fund or its shareholders to which you would otherwise be subject by reason of
willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance of your
duties, or by reason of your reckless disregard of your obligations and duties
hereunder.
9. Duration and Termination of This Agreement. This Agreement shall remain
in force until September 30, 2003, and continue in force from year to year
thereafter, but only so long as such continuance is specifically approved at
least annually (a) by the vote of a majority of the Trustees who are not parties
to this Agreement or interested persons of any party to this Agreement, cast in
person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval, and (b)
by the Trustees of the Trust, or by the vote of a majority of the outstanding
voting securities of the Fund. The aforesaid requirement that continuance of
this Agreement be "specifically approved at least annually" shall be construed
in a manner consistent with the 1940 Act and the rules and regulations
thereunder and any applicable SEC exemptive order therefrom.
This Agreement may be terminated with respect to the Fund at any time, without
the payment of any penalty, by the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting
securities of the Fund or by the Trust's Board of Trustees on 60 days' written
notice to you, or by you on 60 days' written notice to the Trust. This Agreement
shall terminate automatically in the event of its assignment.
This Agreement may be terminated with respect to the Fund at any time without
the payment of any penalty by the Board of Trustees or by vote of a majority of
the outstanding voting securities of the Fund in the event that it shall have
been established by a court of competent jurisdiction that you or any of your
officers or directors has taken any action which results in a breach of your
covenants set forth herein.
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10. Amendment of this Agreement. No provision of this Agreement may be
changed, waived, discharged or terminated orally, but only by an instrument in
writing signed by the party against whom enforcement of the change, waiver,
discharge or termination is sought, and no amendment of this Agreement shall be
effective until approved in a manner consistent with the 1940 Act and rules and
regulations thereunder and any applicable SEC exemptive order therefrom.
11. Limitation of Liability for Claims. The Declaration, a copy of which,
together with all amendments thereto, is on file in the Office of the Secretary
of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, provides that the name "▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ Investors
Trust" refers to the Trustees under the Declaration collectively as Trustees and
not as individuals or personally, and that no shareholder of the Fund, or
Trustee, officer, employee or agent of the Trust, shall be subject to claims
against or obligations of the Trust or of the Fund to any extent whatsoever, but
that the Trust estate only shall be liable.
You are hereby expressly put on notice of the limitation of liability as set
forth in the Declaration and you agree that the obligations assumed by the Trust
on behalf of the Fund pursuant to this Agreement shall be limited in all cases
to the Fund and its assets, and you shall not seek satisfaction of any such
obligation from the shareholders or any shareholder of the Fund or any other
series of the Trust, or from any Trustee, officer, employee or agent of the
Trust. You understand that the rights and obligations of each Fund, or series,
under the Declaration are separate and distinct from those of any and all other
series.
12. Miscellaneous. The captions in this Agreement are included for
convenience of reference only and in no way define or limit any of the
provisions hereof or otherwise affect their construction or effect. This
Agreement may be executed simultaneously in two or more counterparts, each of
which shall be deemed an original, but all of which together shall constitute
one and the same instrument.
In interpreting the provisions of this Agreement, the definitions contained in
Section 2(a) of the 1940 Act (particularly the definitions of "affiliated
person," "assignment" and "majority of the outstanding voting securities"), as
from time to time amended, shall be applied, subject, however, to such
exemptions as may be granted by the SEC by any rule, regulation or order.
This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with the laws of The
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, provided that nothing herein shall be construed
in a manner inconsistent with the 1940 Act, or in a manner which would cause the
Fund to fail to comply with the requirements of Subchapter M of the Code.
This Agreement shall supersede all prior investment advisory or management
agreements entered into between you and the Trust on behalf of the Fund.
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If you are in agreement with the foregoing, please execute the form of
acceptance on the accompanying counterpart of this letter and return such
counterpart to the Trust, whereupon this letter shall become a binding contract
effective as of the date of this Agreement.
Yours very truly,
▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ INVESTORS TRUST, on behalf of
▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ S&P 500 Stock Fund
By:
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▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇. ▇▇▇▇
President
The foregoing Agreement is hereby accepted as of the date hereof.
DEUTSCHE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
AMERICAS INC.
By:
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▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, III
General Counsel, Chief Legal Officer
and Secretary
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