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American Century Investments and Nomura Asset Management Launch U.S. Focused Innovation Equity UCITS

August 10, 2021

American Century Investments

Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Highlights:

Tokyo, Aug. 10, 2021 - American Century Investments and Nomura Asset Management on June 30 launched the American Century U.S. Focused Innovation Equity Fund (ISIN: I USD IE0006AEA9Y8), a sub-fund of Nomura Funds Ireland Plc, that will be available to investors in Europe and Asia.

This is the fourth UCITS sub-fund of Nomura Funds Ireland plc created in collaboration with Nomura Asset Management. The new sub-fund strives to provide returns using an investment process that identifies companies mainly in their early and rapid growth phases with significant long-term potential. The fund will invest in 30-45 companies that the team believes are positioned for sustained high growth rates over time. The team's rigorous fundamental research evaluates companies for:

The strategy will be managed by an experienced investment team led by American Century Investments Senior Portfolio Managers Keith Lee and Michael Li and Portfolio Managers Prabha Ram and Henry He.

Prabha Ram, Vice President and Portfolio Manager for American Century, said: "Our investment approach looks beyond short-term market fluctuations and focuses instead on businesses with enduring franchises and strong balance sheets, that we think will be able to generate attractive cash flow growth over a long time horizon. Our positioning is ultimately determined by an assessment of a company's long-term business conditions and management's abilities to execute on those opportunities."

Go Hiramatsu CEO at Nomura Asset Management U.K., commented: "In May, Nomura Asset Management and American Century Investments celebrated the five-year anniversary of its strategic partnership. This collaboration is an example of our two firms working together to find innovative products for our clients and provide a broader range of solutions to serve their strategic interests. Given high valuations investing into U.S. growth companies needs a rigorous selection process based on longstanding experience."

Further information please contact:
Justin Emily Wills American Century Investments
justin_wills@americancentury.com

Note to Editors:

A Strategic Business Partnership

On May 19, 2016, Nomura Holdings acquired a non-controlling approx. 41 percent economic interest (voting rights of 10.1 percent) in American Century Investments (ACI), an independent investment management firm in the U.S.

ACI has a strong presence in the U.S. mutual fund market, which is about 22 times the size of Japan's, and has particular expertise actively managing U.S. and global equity funds. In addition, ACI has strong connections to key distribution channels including leading global advisors, banks, and insurance companies.

Given the minimal overlap between Nomura's and ACI's investment strategies, products and regional coverage, the strategic partnership enables both firms to serve a broader array of clients, bringing value to both organizations. Nomura Group's strength in Japan and Asia makes the firm an extremely attractive strategic business partner for American Century. Nomura Asset Management is accessing and leveraging ACI's expertise to offer a wider range of investment management solutions to individual and institutional clients in Japan and the rest of the world.

American Century Investments

American Century Investments is a leading global asset manager focused on delivering investment results and building long-term client relationships while supporting breakthrough medical research. Founded in 1958, American Century Investments' 1,400 employees serve financial professionals, institutions, corporations and individual investors from offices in New York; London; Hong Kong; Frankfurt; Sydney; Los Angeles; Mountain View, Calif.; and Kansas City, Mo. Jonathan S. Thomas is president and chief executive officer, and Victor Zhang serves as chief investment officer. Delivering investment results to clients enables American Century Investments to distribute over 40 percent of its dividends to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a 500-person, non-profit basic biomedical research organization. The Institute owns more than 40 percent of American Century Investments and has received dividend payments of $1.7 billion since 2000. For more information about American Century Investments, visit americancentury.com.

Nomura Asset Management

Nomura Asset Management is a leading global investment manager. Headquartered in Tokyo, Nomura Asset Management has additional investment offices throughout the world including London, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Frankfurt and New York. With a global workforce of over 1,400 employees, it has been operating in Europe for the past 30 years. Today Nomura Asset Management provides its clients with a wide range of innovative investment strategies including global, regional and single country equities, high yield bonds, alternative investments and global fixed income strategies.

The fund is a sub-fund of Nomura Funds Ireland plc, which is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as an open-ended umbrella investment company with variable capital and segregated liability between its sub-funds, established as an undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities under the European Communities (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) Regulations 2011. This document is not intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation. The shares in the fund have not been and will not be offered for sale in the United States of America or in Japan, its territories or possessions and all areas subject to its jurisdiction, or to United States or Japan Persons. This document is not intended in any way to indicate or guarantee future investment results as the value of investments may go down as well as up. Values may also be affected by exchange rate movements and investors may not get back the full amount originally invested. Before purchasing any investment fund or product, you should read the related prospectus and fund documentation, including full details of all the risks associated with it, to form your own assessment and judgement on whether this investment is suitable in light of your financial knowledge and experience, investment objectives and financial or tax situation and whether to obtain specific advice from an investment professional. The prospectus and Key Investor Information Document are available in English from the Nomura Asset Management U.K. Ltd website at nomura-asset.co.uk.

A strategy or emphasis on environmental, social and governance factors ("ESG") may limit the investment opportunities available to a portfolio. Therefore, the portfolio may underperform or perform differently than other portfolios that do not have an ESG investment focus. A portfolio's ESG investment focus may also result in the portfolio investing in securities or industry sectors that perform differently or maintain a different risk profile than the market generally or compared to underlying holdings that are not screened for ESG standards.

Investment return and principal value of security investments will fluctuate. The value at the time of redemption may be more or less than the original cost.

International investing involves special risks, such as political instability and currency fluctuations.

This communication has been prepared for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell any security and does not constitute an investment recommendation or investment, accounting, tax or legal advice.

SFDR Disclosure: The EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation ("SFDR") requires investment firms to formalise how sustainability is integrated into their business and processes, and to make new public and client-facing disclosures on sustainability matters. The aforementioned disclosures relating to Nomura Asset Management U.K. Limited are published on the website at https://www.nomura-asset.co.uk/responsible-investment/esg-sustainable-investment/.-Product related disclosures regarding Nomura Funds Ireland PLC, its sub-funds can be found in the prospectus. The American Century US Focused Innovation Equity Fund is an Article 6 fund according to SFDR.

American Century Investment Management (UK) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

American Century Investment Management (UK) Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 06520426. Registered office: 12 Henrietta Street, 4th Floor, London, WC2E 8LH.
©2021 American Century Proprietary Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd. is registered in company in Japan:
Registration Number: Director of the Kanto Local Financial Bureau (Financial instruments firms) No. 373

Member Associations: The Investment Trusts Association, Japan; Japan Securities Investment Advisers Association; Type II Financial Instruments Firms Association

Nomura Asset Management U.K. Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Company House number: 01859421

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