UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM N-CSR
CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT
INVESTMENT COMPANIES
Investment Company Act file number 811-05083
VANECK VIP TRUST
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
666 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)
VanEck Associates Corporation
666 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
(Name and address of agent for service)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (212) 293-2000
Date of fiscal year end: DECEMBER 31
Date of reporting period: JUNE 30, 2018
Item 1. Report to Shareholders
 | SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT June 30, 2018 (unaudited) | |
VanEck VIP Trust
VanEck VIP Emerging Markets Fund
The information contained in this shareholder letter represents the opinion of the investment adviser and may change at any time. This information is not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results or investment advice. Current market conditions may not continue. Also, unless otherwise specifically noted, any discussion of the Fund’s holdings, the Fund’s performance, and the views of the investment adviser are as of June 30, 2018.
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Dear Shareholders:
We are pleased to present this semi-annual report, which affords us the opportunity to provide a review of the economic backdrop for the first half of the year. But first, in light of the many developments that occurred across global markets during the first half of 2018, we want to reemphasize VanEck’s corporate mission and its implications to you as our valued shareholders.
As you may know, VanEck has a history of looking beyond the financial markets to identify historical, political, and/or technological trends that are likely to create or impact investment opportunities. We were one of the first U.S. asset managers to offer investors access to international markets, which set the tone for our drive to identify promising asset classes and trends. In this respect, our unconventional (at the time) efforts to introduce investors to gold investing in 1968, emerging markets (including China) in 1993, and ETFs in 2006, are now considered mainstream, permanently shaping the investment management industry as we now know it.
Today, we offer both active and passive strategies with compelling exposures supported by well-designed investment processes. Our firm’s capabilities range from strategies designed to strengthen core investment allocations to more specialized exposures that enhance portfolio diversification and reduce volatility.
Putting clients’ interests first in all market environments is at the heart of the firm’s mission and has been since our founding in 1955. We will, as always, continue to seek out and evaluate the most attractive opportunities for you as shareholders.
As we wrote in our Market Insights research, which can be found at www.vaneck.com/blogs/market-insights, we began 2018 by noting that global growth had gone from “ticking up” to “firmly in place” and that, while central banks were tightening, Europe remained “two years” behind the U.S. in this trend and had a trickier task. Further, our base case was for 10-year interest rates to rise to 3.5% with the curve not inverting. In its third longest bull market ever, we remained bullish on U.S. equities in the short-term, but were prepared for a correction. And, finally, we believed that investors should not be underweight commodities as global growth was supporting the bullish “grind trade” narrative from supply cutbacks.
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
(unaudited) (continued)
Over the last six months we have seen interest rates in the U.S. rise as expected and, as a consequence, the U.S. dollar has strengthened. These events, along with both inflation fears and concern about trade and tariffs, have resulted not only in an increasingly evident decoupling of the U.S. dollar and emerging markets local currencies, but also significant outflows from emerging markets themselves (in May, for example, outflows were evenly split between equities and debt). From a regional perspective, countries in Latin America and Europe (e.g. Argentina and Turkey) rather than in Asia, have been the primary sources of emerging markets outflows. We still believe that credit exposure in high yield and emerging markets is still better than in governments, which have pure interest rate risk with no offset.
The biggest change in our outlook from six months ago is that global growth appears to be less synchronized—more relevant to the U.S. and China—with Europe uncertain and Africa, South America, and the Middle East struggling. In Europe, for example, economic growth has started to slow and weaker bank balance sheets remain an obstacle to monetary policy normalization. Despite these growing concerns, supply discipline has continued to support the bullish “grind trade” in commodities, with increasing chances of commodities and natural resources ending 2018 as the best performing area of the market.
To keep you informed on an ongoing basis, we encourage you to stay in touch with us through the videos, email subscriptions, and research blogs available on our website, vaneck.com. Should you have any questions regarding fund performance, please contact us at 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com.
We sincerely thank you for investing in VanEck’s investment strategies. On the following pages, you will find financial statements for the Fund for the six-month period ended June 30, 2018. As always, we value your continued confidence in us and look forward to helping you meet your investment goals in the future.

Jan F. van Eck
CEO and President
VanEck VIP Trust
July 17, 2018
Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
EXPLANATION OF EXPENSES
(unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including program fees on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other Fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand the ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period, January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018.
Actual Expenses
The first line in the table below provides information about account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the first line under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During the Period.”
Hypothetical Example for Comparison Purposes
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as fees on purchase payments. Therefore, the second line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning Account Value January 1, 2018 | Ending Account Value June 30, 2018 | Expenses Paid During the Period* January 1, 2018 - June 30, 2018 |
VanEck VIP Emerging Markets Fund | | | |
Initial Class | | | |
Actual | $ 1,000.00 | $ 917.20 | $ 5.56 |
Hypothetical** | $ 1,000.00 | $ 1,018.99 | $ 5.86 |
Class S | | | |
Actual | $ 1,000.00 | $ 914.70 | $ 7.93 |
Hypothetical** | $ 1,000.00 | $ 1,016.51 | $ 8.35 |
* | Expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized expense ratio (for the six months ended June 30, 2018), of 1.17% on Initial Class Shares and 1.67% on Class S Shares, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by the number of days in the most recent fiscal half year divided by the number of the days in the fiscal year (to reflect the one-half year period). |
| |
** | Assumes annual return of 5% before expenses. |
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | |
COMMON STOCKS: 91.2% | | | | |
| | | | |
Argentina: 0.5% | | | | |
| 76,500 | | Grupo Supervielle SA (ADR) | | $ | 809,370 | |
Brazil: 3.3% | | | | |
| 313,100 | | Fleury SA | | | 2,136,746 | |
| 492,900 | | International Meal Co. Alimentacao SA | | | 1,008,501 | |
| 849,000 | | Movida Participacoes SA | | | 1,182,894 | |
| 81,400 | | Smiles Fidelidade SA | | | 1,092,124 | |
| | | | | | 5,420,265 | |
China / Hong Kong: 38.4% | | | | |
| 61,240 | | Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (ADR) * | | | 11,361,857 | |
| 850,000 | | A-Living Services Co. Ltd. * # Reg S 144A | | | 1,549,155 | |
| 2,438,000 | | Beijing Capital International Airport Co. Ltd. # | | | 2,560,948 | |
| 3,850,000 | | Beijing Enterprises Water Group Ltd. # | | | 2,093,491 | |
| 3,588,969 | | China Animal Healthcare Ltd. * # § ∞ | | | 0 | |
| 1,688,000 | | China Maple Leaf Educational Systems Ltd. * # | | | 3,031,176 | |
| 854,000 | | China Medical System Holdings Ltd. # | | | 1,701,038 | |
| 2,210,000 | | China ZhengTong Auto Services Holdings Ltd. # | | | 1,467,102 | |
| 617,976 | | Focus Media Information Technology Co. Ltd. # | | | 890,339 | |
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | |
China / Hong Kong: (continued) | | | | |
| 1,495,000 | | Fu Shou Yuan International Group Ltd. # | | $ | 1,682,560 | |
| 388,000 | | Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. # | | | 2,990,879 | |
| 96,992 | | Han’s Laser Technology Industry Group Co. Ltd. # | | | 776,152 | |
| 63,200 | | Huazhu Group Ltd. (ADR) | | | 2,653,768 | |
| 82,250 | | JD.com, Inc. (ADR) * | | | 3,203,638 | |
| 20,600 | | Kweichow Moutai Co. Ltd. # | | | 2,268,753 | |
| 113,000 | | Midea Group Co. Ltd. # | | | 887,662 | |
| 714,000 | | Ping An Insurance Group Co. of China Ltd. # | | | 6,538,579 | |
| 94,000 | | Shenzhou International Group Holdings Ltd. # | | | 1,156,706 | |
| 42,000 | | Silergy Corp. # | | | 1,020,571 | |
| 104,000 | | Sunny Optical Technology Group Co. Ltd. # | | | 1,928,925 | |
| 238,200 | | Tencent Holdings Ltd. # | | | 11,961,302 | |
| 520,000 | | Yihai International Holding Ltd. # | | | 988,161 | |
| | | | | | 62,712,762 | |
Egypt: 1.2% | | | | |
| 295,750 | | Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE # | | | 1,400,080 | |
| 750,000 | | Juhayna Food Industries # | | | 506,612 | |
| | | | | | 1,906,692 | |
Georgia: 0.9% | | | | |
| 60,700 | | Bank of Georgia Group Plc (GBP) # | | | 1,505,455 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | |
Germany: 0.6% | | | | |
| 18,000 | | Delivery Hero AG * # Reg S 144A | | $ | 954,090 | |
India: 8.9% | | | | |
| 301,000 | | Bharti Infratel Ltd. # | | | 1,322,539 | |
| 96,000 | | Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co. Ltd. # | | | 2,123,263 | |
| 124,600 | | HDFC Bank Ltd. # | | | 3,891,761 | |
| 29,900 | | HDFC Bank Ltd. (ADR) | | | 3,140,098 | |
| 84,185 | | Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. # | | | 949,734 | |
| 189,800 | | Phoenix Mills Ltd. # | | | 1,832,357 | |
| 73,500 | | Quess Corp. Ltd. * Reg S 144A | | | 1,220,852 | |
| | | | | | 14,480,604 | |
Indonesia: 1.4% | | | | |
| 9,840,000 | | Bank Rakyat Indonesia Persero Tbk PT # | | | 1,946,262 | |
| 1,170,200 | | Link Net Tbk PT # | | | 358,742 | |
| | | | | | 2,305,004 | |
Kenya: 0.8% | | | | |
| 4,477,000 | | Safaricom Plc # | | | 1,298,131 | |
Kuwait: 0.4% | | | | |
| 57,000 | | Human Soft Holding Co. KSC | | | 659,336 | |
Malaysia: 1.5% | | | | |
| 1,122,000 | | Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd # | | | 2,444,253 | |
Mexico: 2.6% | | | | |
| 476,000 | | Qualitas Controladora SAB de CV * | | | 1,173,687 | |
| 247,000 | | Regional SAB de CV | | | 1,329,878 | |
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | |
Mexico: (continued) | | | | |
| 631,000 | | Unifin Financiera SAB de CV SOFOM ENR | | $ | 1,692,813 | |
| | | | | | 4,196,378 | |
Peru: 0.8% | | | | |
| 5,860 | | Credicorp Ltd. (USD) | | | 1,319,203 | |
Philippines: 3.4% | | | | |
| 2,659,000 | | Ayala Land, Inc. # | | | 1,887,898 | |
| 7,580,000 | | Bloomberry Resorts Corp. # | | | 1,383,732 | |
| 955,200 | | International Container Terminal Services, Inc. # | | | 1,383,814 | |
| 552,010 | | Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. | | | 822,313 | |
| | | | | | 5,477,757 | |
Poland: 0.6% | | | | |
| 17,039 | | Kruk SA # | | | 908,038 | |
Russia: 4.0% | | | | |
| 349,480 | | Sberbank of Russia PJSC (ADR) # | | | 4,999,139 | |
| 41,437 | | Yandex NV (USD) * | | | 1,487,588 | |
| | | | | | 6,486,727 | |
South Africa: 5.4% | | | | |
| 606,000 | | Advtech Ltd. | | | 691,372 | |
| 25,250 | | Naspers Ltd. # | | | 6,366,631 | |
| 1,457,924 | | Transaction Capital Ltd. | | | 1,817,423 | |
| | | | | | 8,875,426 | |
South Korea: 1.4% | | | | |
| 7,200 | | Koh Young Technology, Inc. # | | | 658,221 | |
| 1,475 | | Samsung Biologics Co. Ltd. * # Reg S 144 A | | | 552,083 | |
| 5,800 | | Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. # | | | 1,112,488 | |
| | | | | | 2,322,792 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | |
Spain: 2.4% | | | | |
| 119,203 | | CIE Automotive SA # | | $ | 3,507,633 | |
| 78,327 | | Global Dominion Access SA * # Reg S 144A | | | 422,849 | |
| | | | | | 3,930,482 | |
Switzerland: 0.8% | | | | |
| 27,600 | | Wizz Air Holdings Plc (GBP) * # Reg S 144A | | | 1,307,021 | |
Taiwan: 5.2% | | | | |
| 345,000 | | Basso Industry Corp. # | | | 735,558 | |
| 417,000 | | Chroma ATE, Inc. # | | | 2,238,901 | |
| 120,712 | | Gourmet Master Co. Ltd. # | | | 1,166,230 | |
| 150,010 | | Poya International Co. Ltd. # | | | 1,614,691 | |
| 132,000 | | TaiMed Biologics, Inc. * # | | | 1,347,706 | |
| 195,000 | | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. # | | | 1,384,709 | |
| | | | | | 8,487,795 | |
Thailand: 2.2% | | | | |
| 1,112,000 | | CP ALL PCL # | | | 2,464,512 | |
| 1,243,478 | | Srisawad Corp. PCL (NVDR) # | | | 1,106,961 | |
| | | | | | 3,571,473 | |
Turkey: 2.7% | | | | |
| 152,283 | | AvivaSA Emeklilik ve Hayat AS | | | 489,947 | |
| 697,777 | | Dogtas Kelebek Mobilya Sanayi ve Ticaret AS * # | | | 262,345 | |
| 313,140 | | MLP Saglik Hizmetleri AS * Reg S 144A | | | 980,213 | |
| 453,968 | | Sok Marketler Ticaret AS * | | | 856,776 | |
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | |
Turkey: (continued) | | | | |
| 335,000 | | Tofas Turk Otomobil Fabrikasi AS # | | $ | 1,753,190 | |
| 34,750 | | Ulker Biskuvi Sanayi AS * # | | | 136,085 | |
| | | | | | 4,478,556 | |
United Arab Emirates: 0.8% | | | | |
| 26,300 | | NMC Health Plc (GBP) # | | | 1,237,882 | |
United Kingdom: 0.5% | | | | |
| 60,700 | | Georgia Capital Plc * | | | 825,121 | |
| 1,235,312 | | Hirco Plc * # § ∞ | | | 0 | |
| | | | | | 825,121 | |
United States: 0.2% | | | | |
| 25,000 | | Laureate Education, Inc. * | | | 358,250 | |
Uruguay: 0.3% | | | | |
| 184,910 | | Biotoscana Investments SA (BDR) * | | | 462,782 | |
Total Common Stocks (Cost: $120,299,588) | | | 148,741,645 | |
| | | | |
PREFERRED STOCKS: 7.0% | | | | |
| | | | |
Brazil: 0.8% | | | | |
| 136,760 | | Itau Unibanco Holding SA, 7.32% | | | 1,423,440 | |
Colombia: 0.3% | | | | |
| 40,000 | | Banco Davivienda SA, 2.36% | | | 504,939 | |
South Korea: 5.9% | | | | |
| 283,900 | | Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., 2.46% # | | | 9,586,988 | |
Total Preferred Stocks (Cost: $8,467,238) | | | 11,515,367 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | |
MONEY MARKET FUND: 1.6% (Cost: $2,542,395) | | | | |
| 2,542,395 | | AIM Treasury Portfolio – Institutional Class | | $ | 2,542,395 | |
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | |
Total Investments: 99.8% (Cost: $131,309,221) | | $ | 162,799,407 | |
Other assets less liabilities: 0.2% | | | 346,705 | |
NET ASSETS: 100.0% | | $ | 163,146,112 | |
Definitions: |
ADR | American Depositary Receipt |
BDR | Brazilian Depositary Receipt |
GBP | British Pound |
NVDR | Non-Voting Depositary Receipt |
USD | United States Dollar |
Footnotes:
* | Non-income producing |
# | Security has been fair valued in good faith pursuant to guidelines established by the Board of Trustees. The aggregate value of fair valued securities is $115,552,083 which represents 70.8% of net assets. |
§ | Illiquid Security—the aggregate value of illiquid securities is $0 which represents 0.0% of net assets. |
∞ | Security is valued using significant unobservable inputs and is classified as Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. |
Reg S | Security was purchased pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, which exempts from registration securities offered and sold outside of the United States. Such a security cannot be sold in the United States without either an effective registration statement filed pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, or pursuant to an exemption from registration. |
144A | Security exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or otherwise restricted. These securities may be resold in transactions exempt from registration, unless otherwise noted, and the value amounted to $6,986,263, or 4.3% of net assets. |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
Summary of Investments by Sector | | | % of Investments | | Value | |
Consumer Discretionary | | | | 23.1 | % | | $ | 37,673,084 | |
Consumer Staples | | | | 4.9 | | | | 8,043,212 | |
Financials | | | | 24.5 | | | | 39,895,191 | |
Health Care | | | | 5.2 | | | | 8,418,450 | |
Industrials | | | | 7.6 | | | | 12,425,089 | |
Information Technology | | | | 27.7 | | | | 45,008,828 | |
Real Estate | | | | 2.3 | | | | 3,720,255 | |
Telecommunication Services | | | | 1.8 | | | | 2,979,412 | |
Utilities | | | | 1.3 | | | | 2,093,491 | |
Money Market Fund | | | | 1.6 | | | | 2,542,395 | |
| | | | 100.0 | % | | $ | 162,799,407 | |
The summary of inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of June 30, 2018 is as follows:
| | Level 1 Quoted Prices | | | Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs | | Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs | | Value | |
Common Stocks | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Argentina | | $ | 809,370 | | | $ | — | | | $ | — | | | $ | 809,370 | |
Brazil | | | 5,420,265 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 5,420,265 | |
China / Hong Kong | | | 17,219,263 | | | | 45,493,499 | | | | 0 | | | | 62,712,762 | |
Egypt | | | — | | | | 1,906,692 | | | | — | | | | 1,906,692 | |
Georgia | | | — | | | | 1,505,455 | | | | — | | | | 1,505,455 | |
Germany | | | — | | | | 954,090 | | | | — | | | | 954,090 | |
India | | | 4,360,950 | | | | 10,119,654 | | | | — | | | | 14,480,604 | |
Indonesia | | | — | | | | 2,305,004 | | | | — | | | | 2,305,004 | |
Kenya | | | — | | | | 1,298,131 | | | | — | | | | 1,298,131 | |
Kuwait | | | 659,336 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 659,336 | |
Malaysia | | | — | | | | 2,444,253 | | | | — | | | | 2,444,253 | |
Mexico | | | 4,196,378 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 4,196,378 | |
Peru | | | 1,319,203 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 1,319,203 | |
Philippines | | | 822,313 | | | | 4,655,444 | | | | — | | | | 5,477,757 | |
Poland | | | — | | | | 908,038 | | | | — | | | | 908,038 | |
Russia | | | 1,487,588 | | | | 4,999,139 | | | | — | | | | 6,486,727 | |
South Africa | | | 2,508,795 | | | | 6,366,631 | | | | — | | | | 8,875,426 | |
South Korea | | | — | | | | 2,322,792 | | | | — | | | | 2,322,792 | |
Spain | | | — | | | | 3,930,482 | | | | — | | | | 3,930,482 | |
Switzerland | | | — | | | | 1,307,021 | | | | — | | | | 1,307,021 | |
Taiwan | | | — | | | | 8,487,795 | | | | — | | | | 8,487,795 | |
Thailand | | | — | | | | 3,571,473 | | | | — | | | | 3,571,473 | |
Turkey | | | 2,326,936 | | | | 2,151,620 | | | | — | | | | 4,478,556 | |
United Arab Emirates | | | — | | | | 1,237,882 | | | | — | | | | 1,237,882 | |
United Kingdom | | | 825,121 | | | | — | | | | 0 | | | | 825,121 | |
United States | | | 358,250 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 358,250 | |
Uruguay | | | 462,782 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 462,782 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
| | Level 1 Quoted Prices | | | Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs | | Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs | | Value | |
Preferred Stocks | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Brazil | | $ | 1,423,440 | | | $ | — | | | $ | — | | | $ | 1,423,440 | |
Colombia | | | 504,939 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 504,939 | |
South Korea | | | — | | | | 9,586,988 | | | | — | | | | 9,586,988 | |
Money Market Fund | | | 2,542,395 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 2,542,395 | |
Total | | $ | 47,247,324 | | | $ | 115,552,083 | | | $ | 0 | | | $ | 162,799,407 | |
During the period ended June 30, 2018, transfers of securities from Level 1 to Level 2 were $28,207,180 and transfers from Level 2 to Level 1 were $5,030,140. These transfers resulted primarily from changes in certain foreign securities valuation methodologies between the last close of the securities’ primary market (Level 1) and valuation by the pricing service (Level 2), which takes into account market direction or events occurring before the Fund’s pricing time but after the last local close, as described in the Notes to Financial Statements.
The following table reconciles the valuation of the Fund’s Level 3 investment securities and related transactions during the period ended June 30, 2018:
| Common Stocks |
| China / Hong Kong | | United Kingdom |
Balance as of December 31, 2017 | | $ | 0 | | | | $ | 0 | |
Realized gain (loss) | | | — | | | | | — | |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | 0 | | | | | 0 | |
Purchases | | | — | | | | | — | |
Sales | | | — | | | | | — | |
Transfers in and/or out of level 3 | | | — | | | | | — | |
Balance as of June 30, 2018 | | $ | 0 | | | | $ | 0 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Assets: | | | | |
Investments, at value (Cost $131,309,221) | | $ | 162,799,407 | |
Cash | | | 121 | |
Cash denominated in foreign currency, at value (Cost $25,764) | | | 25,760 | |
Receivables: | | | | |
Investments sold | | | 1,360,671 | |
Shares of beneficial interest sold | | | 233,609 | |
Dividends | | | 563,028 | |
Prepaid expenses | | | 964 | |
Other assets | | | 34,526 | |
Total assets | | | 165,018,086 | |
Liabilities: | | | | |
Payables: | | | | |
Investments purchased | | | 1,435,679 | |
Shares of beneficial interest redeemed | | | 195,244 | |
Due to Adviser | | | 140,580 | |
Due to Distributor | | | 10 | |
Deferred Trustee fees | | | 70,360 | |
Accrued expenses | | | 30,101 | |
Total liabilities | | | 1,871,974 | |
NET ASSETS | | $ | 163,146,112 | |
Initial Class Shares: | | | | |
Net Assets | | $ | 163,094,981 | |
Shares of beneficial interest outstanding | | | 11,408,017 | |
Net asset value, redemption and offering price per share | | $ | 14.30 | |
Class S Shares: | | | | |
Net Assets | | $ | 51,131 | |
Shares of beneficial interest outstanding | | | 3,611 | |
Net asset value, redemption and offering price per share | | $ | 14.16 | |
Net Assets consist of: | | | | |
Aggregate paid in capital | | $ | 123,866,754 | |
Net unrealized appreciation | | | 31,488,239 | |
Undistributed net investment income | | | 727,069 | |
Accumulated net realized gain | | | 7,064,050 | |
| | $ | 163,146,112 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Income: | | | | | | | | |
Dividends (net of foreign taxes withheld of $232,035) | | | | | | $ | 1,957,099 | |
Expenses: | | | | | | | | |
Management fees | | $ | 917,899 | | | | | |
Distribution fees — Class S | | | 51 | | | | | |
Transfer agent fees — Initial Class | | | 12,515 | | | | | |
Transfer agent fees — Class S Shares | | | 6,552 | | | | | |
Custodian fees | | | 46,042 | | | | | |
Professional fees | | | 45,132 | | | | | |
Reports to shareholders | | | 25,174 | | | | | |
Insurance | | | 3,227 | | | | | |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | | | 10,745 | | | | | |
Interest | | | 867 | | | | | |
Other | | | 7,308 | | | | | |
Total expenses | | | 1,075,512 | | | | | |
Waiver of management fees | | | (6,496 | ) | | | | |
Net expenses | | | | | | | 1,069,016 | |
Net investment income | | | | | | | 888,083 | |
Net realized gain (loss) on: | | | | | | | | |
Investments (net of foreign taxes of $224) | | | | | | | 9,213,111 | |
Foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities | | | | | | | (84,441 | ) |
Net realized gain | | | | | | | 9,128,670 | |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on: | | | | | | | | |
Investments (net of foreign taxes of $472) | | | | | | | (25,003,997 | ) |
Foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities | | | | | | | (2,005 | ) |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | | | | | (25,006,002 | ) |
Net Decrease in Net Assets Resulting from Operations | | | | | | $ | (14,989,249 | ) |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS
| | Six Months Ended June 30, 2018 | | | Year Ended December 31, 2017 | |
| | (unaudited) | | |
Operations: | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | $ | 888,083 | | | $ | 427,019 | |
Net realized gain | | | 9,128,670 | | | | 11,498,343 | |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | (25,006,002 | ) | | | 52,153,639 | |
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | | | (14,989,249 | ) | | | 64,079,001 | |
Dividends to shareholders from: | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | | | | | | |
Initial Class Shares | | | (485,467 | ) | | | (628,893 | ) |
Class S Shares | | | — | | | | (86 | ) |
Total dividends | | | (485,467 | ) | | | (628,979 | ) |
Share transactions*: | | | | | | | | |
Proceeds from sale of shares | | | | | | | | |
Initial Class Shares | | | 19,726,417 | | | | 51,293,239 | |
Class S Shares | | | 18,170 | | | | 19,058 | |
| | | 19,744,587 | | | | 51,312,297 | |
Reinvestment of dividends | | | | | | | | |
Initial Class Shares | | | 485,467 | | | | 628,893 | |
Class S Shares | | | — | | | | 86 | |
| | | 485,467 | | | | 628,979 | |
Cost of shares redeemed | | | | | | | | |
Initial Class Shares | | | (29,518,237 | ) | | | (49,212,339 | ) |
Class S Shares | | | (880 | ) | | | (1,686 | ) |
| | | (29,519,117 | ) | | | (49,214,025 | ) |
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from share transactions | | | (9,289,063 | ) | | | 2,727,251 | |
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | | | (24,763,779 | ) | | | 66,177,273 | |
Net Assets: | | | | | | | | |
Beginning of period | | | 187,909,891 | | | | 121,732,618 | |
End of period (including undistributed net investment income of $727,069 and $324,453, respectively) | | $ | 163,146,112 | | | $ | 187,909,891 | |
* Shares of beneficial interest issued, reinvested and redeemed (unlimited number of $.001 par value shares authorized): | | | | | | | | |
Initial Class Shares: | | | | | | | | |
Shares sold | | | 1,249,165 | | | | 3,905,345 | |
Shares reinvested | | | 29,053 | | | | 57,644 | |
Shares redeemed | | | (1,886,867 | ) | | | (3,645,261 | ) |
Net increase (decrease) | | | (608,649 | ) | | | 317,728 | |
Class S Shares: | | | | | | | | |
Shares sold | | | 1,221 | | | | 1,594 | |
Shares reinvested | | | — | | | | 8 | |
Shares redeemed | | | (55 | ) | | | (124 | ) |
Net increase | | | 1,166 | | | | 1,478 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
For a share outstanding throughout each period:
| | Initial Class Shares | |
| | For the Six Months Ended June 30, | | Year Ended December 31, | |
| | 2018 | | 2017 | | | 2016 | | | 2015 | | | 2014 | | | 2013 | |
| | (unaudited) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net asset value, beginning of period | | $ | 15.63 | | | $ | 10.40 | | | $ | 10.50 | | | $ | 12.95 | | | $ | 14.90 | | | $ | 13.50 | |
Income from investment operations: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | 0.08 | (b) | | | 0.04 | (b) | | | 0.08 | | | | 0.09 | | | | 0.10 | | | | 0.07 | |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments | | | (1.37 | ) | | | 5.24 | | | | (0.08 | ) | | | (1.80 | ) | | | (0.23 | ) | | | 1.54 | |
Total from investment operations | | | (1.29 | ) | | | 5.28 | | | | (0.00 | )(c) | | | (1.71 | ) | | | (0.13 | ) | | | 1.61 | |
Less dividends and distributions from: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | (0.04 | ) | | | (0.05 | ) | | | (0.05 | ) | | | (0.07 | ) | | | (0.08 | ) | | | (0.21 | ) |
Net realized capital gains | | | — | | | | — | | | | (0.05 | ) | | | (0.67 | ) | | | (1.74 | ) | | | — | |
Total dividends and distributions | | | (0.04 | ) | | | (0.05 | ) | | | (0.10 | ) | | | (0.74 | ) | | | (1.82 | ) | | | (0.21 | ) |
Net asset value, end of period | | $ | 14.30 | | | $ | 15.63 | | | $ | 10.40 | | | $ | 10.50 | | | $ | 12.95 | | | $ | 14.90 | |
Total return (a) | | | (8.28 | )%(d) | | | 51.03 | % | | | 0.10 | % | | | (13.99 | )% | | | (0.41 | )% | | | 12.02 | % |
Ratios/Supplemental Data | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net assets, end of period (000’s) | | $ | 163,095 | | | $ | 187,872 | | | $ | 121,723 | | | $ | 128,025 | | | $ | 153,436 | | | $ | 167,932 | |
Ratio of gross expenses to average net assets | | | 1.17 | %(e) | | | 1.19 | % | | | 1.18 | % | | | 1.14 | % | | | 1.17 | % | | | 1.23 | % |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets | | | 1.17 | %(e) | | | 1.19 | % | | | 1.18 | % | | | 1.14 | % | | | 1.17 | % | | | 1.23 | % |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets excluding interest expense | | | 1.16 | %(e) | | | 1.19 | % | | | 1.19 | %(f) | | | 1.13 | % | | | 1.17 | % | | | 1.22 | % |
Ratio of net investment income to average net assets | | | 0.97 | %(e) | | | 0.27 | % | | | 0.70 | % | | | 0.71 | % | | | 0.69 | % | | | 0.56 | % |
Portfolio turnover rate | | | 15 | %(d) | | | 42 | % | | | 62 | % | | | 65 | % | | | 85 | % | | | 83 | % |
(a) | Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of period, reinvestment of any dividends and distributions at net asset value on the dividend/distribution payment date and a redemption at the net asset value on the last day of the period. The return does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund dividends/distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Total returns do not include fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract and/or life insurance policy. If these amounts were reflected, the returns would be lower than those shown. |
(b) | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
(c) | Amount represents less than $0.005 per share |
(d) | Not annualized |
(e) | Annualized |
(f) | Excludes reimbursement from prior year custodial charge of 0.02% |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
For a share outstanding throughout each period:
| | Class S Shares |
| | For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2018 | | Year Ended December 31, 2017 | | May 2, 2016 (a) through December 31, 2016 |
| | (unaudited) | | | | | | |
Net asset value, beginning of period | | | $15.48 | | | | $10.36 | | | | $10.35 | |
Income from investment operations: | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income (loss) | | | 0.05 | (b) | | | (0.04 | )(b) | | | 0.01 | |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments | | | (1.37 | ) | | | 5.21 | | | | — | (c) |
Total from investment operations | | | (1.32 | ) | | | 5.17 | | | | 0.01 | |
Less dividends from: | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | — | | | | (0.05 | ) | | | — | |
Net asset value, end of period | | | $14.16 | | | | $15.48 | | | | $10.36 | |
Total return (d) | | | (8.53 | )%(e) | | | 50.16 | % | | | 0.10 | %(e) |
Ratios/Supplemental Data | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net assets, end of period (000’s) | | | $ 51 | | | | $ 38 | | | | $ 10 | |
Ratio of gross expenses to average net assets | | | 33.43 | %(f) | | | 51.45 | % | | | 30.43 | %(f) |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets | | | 1.67 | %(f) | | | 1.75 | % | | | 1.75 | %(f) |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets excluding interest expense | | | 1.67 | %(f) | | | 1.75 | % | | | 1.75 | % |
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets | | | 0.64 | %(f) | | | (0.33 | )% | | | 0.12 | %(f) |
Portfolio turnover rate | | | 15 | %(e) | | | 42 | % | | | 62 | %(e)(g) |
(a) | Commencement of operations |
(b) | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
(c) | Amount represents less than $0.005 per share |
(d) | Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of period, reinvestment of any dividends and distributions at net asset value on the dividend/distribution payment date and a redemption at the net asset value on the last day of the period. The return does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund dividends/distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Total returns do not include fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract and/or life insurance policy. If these amounts were reflected, the returns would be lower than those shown. |
(e) | Not annualized |
(f) | Annualized |
(g) | Portfolio turnover is calculated at the fund level and represents a one year period |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Note 1—Fund Organization—VanEck VIP Trust (the “Trust”) is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, as an open-end management investment company. The Trust was organized as a Massachusetts business trust on January 7, 1987. The VanEck VIP Emerging Markets Fund (the “Fund”) is a diversified series of the Trust and seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities in emerging markets around the world. The Fund currently offers two classes of shares: Initial Class Shares and Class S Shares. The two classes are identical except Class S Shares are subject to a distribution fee.
Note 2—Significant Accounting Policies—The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
The Fund is an investment company and is following accounting and reporting requirements of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 946 Financial Services — Investment Companies.
The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund.
A. | Security Valuation—The Fund values its investments in securities and other assets and liabilities at fair value daily. Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Securities traded on national exchanges or traded on the NASDAQ National Market System are valued at the last sales price as reported at the close of each business day. Securities traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market are valued at the NASDAQ official closing price. Over-the-counter securities not included in the NASDAQ National Market System and listed securities for which no sale was reported are valued at the mean of the bid and ask prices. To the extent these securities are actively traded they are categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy (as described below). Certain foreign securities, whose values may be affected by market direction or events occurring before the Fund’s pricing time (4:00 p.m. Eastern Time) but after the last close of the securities’ primary market, are fair valued using a pricing service and are categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy. The pricing service, using methods approved by the Board of Trustees, considers the correlation of the trading patterns of the foreign security to intraday trading in the U.S. markets, based on indices of domestic securities and other appropriate indicators such as prices of relevant ADR’s and futures |
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
| contracts. The Fund may also fair value securities in other situations, such as when a particular foreign market is closed but the Fund is open. Short-term debt securities with sixty days or less to maturity are valued at amortized cost, which with accrued interest approximates fair value. Money market fund investments are valued at net asset value and are categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. The Pricing Committee of Van Eck Associates Corporation (the “Adviser”) provides oversight of the Fund’s valuation policies and procedures, which are approved by the Fund’s Board of Trustees. Among other things, these procedures allow the Fund to utilize independent pricing services, quotations from securities dealers, and other market sources to determine fair value. The Pricing Committee convenes regularly to review the fair value of financial instruments or other assets. If market quotations for a security or other asset are not readily available, or if the Adviser believes it does not otherwise reflect the fair value of a security or asset, the security or asset will be fair valued by the Pricing Committee in accordance with the Fund’s valuation policies and procedures. The Pricing Committee employs various methods for calibrating the valuation approaches utilized to determine fair value, including a regular review of key inputs and assumptions, periodic comparisons to valuations provided by other independent pricing services, transactional back-testing and disposition analysis. |
| |
| Certain factors such as economic conditions, political events, market trends, the nature of and duration of any restrictions on disposition, trading in similar securities of the issuer or comparable issuers and other security specific information are used to determine the fair value of these securities. Depending on the relative significance of valuation inputs, these securities may be classified either as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The price which the Fund may realize upon sale of an investment may differ materially from the value presented in the Schedule of Investments. |
| |
| The Fund utilizes various methods to measure the fair value of its investments on a recurring basis, which includes a hierarchy that prioritizes inputs to valuation methods used to measure fair value. The fair value hierarchy gives highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). The inputs or methodologies used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities. The transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy assume the financial instruments were transferred at the beginning of the reporting period. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are described below: |
| Level 1 | – | Quoted prices in active markets for identical securities. |
| | | |
| Level 2 | – | Significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.). |
| | | |
| Level 3 | – | Significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments). |
| A summary of the inputs, the levels used to value the Fund’s investments, and transfers between levels are located in the Schedule of Investments. Additionally, tables that reconcile the valuation of the Fund’s Level 3 investments and that present additional information about valuation methodologies and unobservable inputs, if applicable, are located in the Schedule of Investments. |
| |
B. | Federal Income Taxes—It is the Fund’s policy to comply with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to regulated investment companies and to distribute all of its net investment income to its shareholders. Therefore, no federal income tax provision is required. |
| |
C. | Currency Translation—Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies and commitments under foreign currency contracts are translated into U.S. dollars at the closing prices of such currencies each business day as quoted by one or more sources. Purchases and sales of investments are translated at the exchange rates prevailing when such investments are acquired or sold. Income and expenses are translated at the exchange rates prevailing when accrued. The portion of realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments that result from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates is not separately disclosed. Such amounts are included with the net realized and unrealized gains and losses on investment securities in the Statement of Operations. Recognized gains or losses attributable to foreign currency fluctuations on foreign currency denominated assets, other than investments, and liabilities are recorded as net realized gain (loss) on foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities in the Statement of Operations. |
| |
D. | Dividends and Distributions to Shareholders—Dividends to shareholders from net investment income and distributions from net realized capital gains, if any, are declared and paid annually. Income dividends and capital gain distributions are determined in accordance with U.S. income tax regulations, which may differ from such amounts determined in accordance with GAAP. |
| |
E. | Restricted Securities—The Fund may invest in securities that are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale. These securities generally may be resold in transactions exempt from registration or to the public if the |
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
| securities are registered. Disposal of these securities may involve time-consuming negotiations and expense, and prompt sale at an acceptable price may be difficult. Information regarding restricted securities, if any, is included at the end of the Fund’s Schedule of Investments. |
| |
F. | Use of Derivative Instruments—The Fund may make investments in derivative instruments, including, but not limited to, options, futures, swaps and other derivatives relating to foreign currency transactions. A derivative is an instrument whose value is derived from underlying assets, indices, reference rates or a combination of these factors. Derivative instruments may be privately negotiated contracts (often referred to as over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives) or they may be listed and traded on an exchange. Derivative contracts may involve future commitments to purchase or sell financial instruments or commodities at specified terms on a specified date, or to exchange interest payment streams or currencies based on a notional or contractual amount. Derivative instruments may involve a high degree of financial risk. The use of derivative instruments also involves the risk of loss if the investment adviser is incorrect in its expectation of the timing or level of fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency prices. Investments in derivative instruments also include the risk of default by the counterparty, the risk that the investment may not be liquid and the risk that a small movement in the price of the underlying security or benchmark may result in a disproportionately large movement, unfavorable or favorable, in the price of the derivative instrument. The Fund held no derivative instruments during the period ended June 30, 2018. |
| |
G. | Other—Security transactions are accounted for on trade date. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except that certain dividends from foreign securities are recognized upon notification of the ex-dividend date. Interest income, including amortization of premiums and discounts, is accrued as earned. Realized gains and losses are calculated on the specific identified cost basis. Estimated foreign taxes that are expected to be withheld from proceeds at the sale of certain foreign investments are accrued by the Fund and decrease the unrealized gain on investments. |
| |
| Income, expenses (excluding class-specific expenses), realized and unrealized gains (losses) are allocated proportionately to each class of shares based upon the relative net asset value of outstanding shares of each class at the beginning of the day (after adjusting for current capital share activity of the respective classes). Class-specific expenses are charged directly to the applicable class of shares. |
| |
| In the normal course of business, the Fund enters into contracts that contain a variety of general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under |
| these agreements is unknown as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund that have not yet occurred. However, the Adviser believes the risk of loss under these arrangements to be remote. |
Note 3—Investment Management and Other Agreements—The Adviser is the investment adviser to the Fund. The Adviser receives a management fee, calculated daily and payable monthly based on an annual rate of 1.00% of the Fund’s average daily net assets. The Adviser has agreed, until at least May 1, 2019, to waive management fees and assume expenses to prevent the Fund’s total annual operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, interest expense, trading expenses, dividend and interest payments on securities sold short, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 1.30% and 1.55% of average daily net assets for Initial Class Shares and for Class S Shares, respectively. Prior to May 1, 2018 the Advisor had agreed to waive management fees and assume expenses to limit expenses from exceeding 1.50% and 1.75% of average daily net assets for Initial Class Shares and Class S Shares, respectively. For the period ended June 30, 2018, the Adviser waived management fees in the amount of $6,496 for Class S.
Note 4—12b-1 Plan of Distribution—The Trust and the Distributor are parties to a distribution agreement dated May 1, 2006. The Fund has adopted a Distribution Plan (the “Plan”) for Class S Shares in accordance with Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Pursuant to the Plan, the Fund is authorized to incur distribution expenses for its Class S Shares which will principally be payments to securities dealers who have sold shares and serviced shareholder accounts, and payments to the Distributor for reimbursement of other actual promotion and distribution expenses incurred by the Distributor on behalf of the Fund. The amount paid in any one year is 0.25% of average daily net assets for Class S Shares.
Note 5—Investments—For the period ended June 30, 2018, the cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of investments, excluding U.S. government securities and short-term obligations, aggregated to $27,692,785 and $38,726,762, respectively.
Note 6—Income Taxes—For Federal income tax purposes, the identified cost of investments owned at June 30, 2018 was $131,453,657 and net unrealized appreciation aggregated to $31,345,750, of which $45,874,601 related to appreciated securities and $14,528,851 related to depreciated securities.
The tax character of dividends and distributions paid to shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2017 was as follows:
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
Ordinary income | $628,979 |
| $628,979 |
The tax character of current year distributions will be determined at the end of the current fiscal year.
At December 31, 2017, the Fund had capital loss carryforwards available to offset future capital gains as follows:
Short-Term | | Long-Term | | |
Capital Losses | | Capital Losses | | |
with No Expiration | | with No Expiration | | Total |
$(1,742,233) | | $(241,481) | | $(1,983,714) |
The Fund recognizes the tax benefits of uncertain tax positions only where the position is “more-likely-than-not” to be sustained assuming examination by applicable tax authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund’s tax positions, and has concluded that no liability for unrecognized tax benefits should be recorded related to uncertain tax positions taken on return filings for all open tax years. The Fund does not have exposure for additional years that might still be open in certain foreign jurisdictions. Therefore, no provision for income tax is required in the Fund’s financial statements. However, the Fund is subject to foreign taxes on the appreciation in value of certain investments. The Fund provides for such taxes on both realized and unrealized appreciation.
The Fund recognizes interest and penalties, if any, related to uncertain tax positions as income tax expense in the Statement of Operations. During the period ended June 30, 2018, the Fund did not incur any interest or penalties.
Note 7—Concentration of Risk—The Fund may purchase securities on foreign exchanges. Securities of foreign issuers involve special risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. issuers. These risks include devaluation of currencies, less reliable information about issuers, different securities transaction clearance and settlement practices, and future adverse political and economic developments. These risks are heightened for investments in emerging market countries. Moreover, securities of many foreign issuers and their markets may be less liquid and their prices more volatile than those of comparable U.S. issuers.
The Fund may invest directly in the Russian local market. As a result of events involving Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the United States and the European Union (“EU”) have imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies. These sanctions do not currently impact the Fund. Additional economic sanctions may be imposed or other actions may be taken that may adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Russian-related issuers’ held by the Fund.
In March 2017, the United Kingdom triggered Article 50, and is now scheduled to leave the European Union (“EU”) by the end of March 2019. Significant uncertainty exists on how the withdrawal will take place, the terms of the withdrawal and the effects such withdrawal will have on the EU and the United Kingdom. This may further impact the value of the Euro and the British pound sterling, and has caused volatility and uncertainty in European and global markets.
At June 30, 2018, the shareholder accounts of two insurance companies and the Adviser owned approximately 65%, 27%, and 8% of the Fund’s Class S Shares, respectively. The aggregate shareholder accounts of two insurance companies owned approximately 65% and 18% of the Initial Class Shares.
A more complete description of risks is included in the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information.
Note 8—Trustee Deferred Compensation Plan—The Trust has a Deferred Compensation Plan (the “Deferred Plan”) for Trustees under which the Trustees can elect to defer receipt of their trustee fees until retirement, disability or termination from the Board of Trustees. The fees otherwise payable to the participating Trustees are deemed invested in shares of eligible Funds of the Trust and the VanEck Funds (another registered investment company managed by the Adviser) as directed by the Trustees.
The expense for the Deferred Plan is included in “Trustees’ fees and expenses” on the Statement of Operations. The liability for the Deferred Plan is shown as “Deferred Trustee fees” on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
Note 9—Bank Line of Credit—The Trust participates with VanEck Funds (collectively the “VE/VIP Funds”) in a $30 million committed credit facility (the “Facility”) to be utilized for temporary financing until the settlement of sales or purchases of portfolio securities, the repurchase or redemption of shares of the Fund and other temporary or emergency purposes. The participating VE/VIP Funds have agreed to pay commitment fees, pro rata, based on the unused but available balance. Interest is charged to the VE/VIP Funds at rates based on prevailing market rates in effect at the time of borrowings. During the period ended June 30, 2018, the average daily loan balance during the 13 day period for which a loan was outstanding amounted to $832,263 and the average interest rate was 2.98%. At June 30, 2018, the Fund had no outstanding borrowings under the Facility.
Note 10—Subsequent Event Review—The Fund has evaluated subsequent events and transactions for potential recognition or disclosure through the date the financial statements were issued.
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
VANECK VIP EMERGING MARKETS FUND
(the “Fund”)
The Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), provides, in substance, that an investment advisory agreement between a fund and its investment adviser may be entered into only if it is approved, and may continue in effect from year to year after an initial two-year period only if its continuance is approved, at least annually by the fund’s board of trustees, including by a vote of a majority of the trustees who are not “interested persons” of the fund as defined in the 1940 Act (the “Independent Trustees”), cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of considering such approval. On June 12, 2018, the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of VanEck VIP Trust (the “Trust”), which is comprised exclusively of Independent Trustees, voted to approve the continuation of the existing advisory agreement (the “Advisory Agreement”) between the Fund and its investment adviser, Van Eck Associates Corporation (together with its affiliated companies, the “Adviser”). Information regarding the material factors considered and related conclusions reached by the Board in approving the continuation of the Fund’s Advisory Agreement is set forth below.
In considering the continuation of the Advisory Agreement, the Board reviewed and considered information that had been provided by the Adviser throughout the year at meetings of the Board and its committees, including information requested by the Board and furnished by the Adviser for meetings of the Board held on May 14, 2018 and June 12, 2018 specifically for the purpose of considering the continuation of the Advisory Agreement. The written and oral reports provided to the Board included, among other things, the following:
■ | Information about the overall organization of the Adviser and the Adviser’s short-term and long-term business plans with respect to its mutual fund operations and other lines of business; |
| |
■ | The consolidated financial statements of the Adviser for the past two fiscal years; |
| |
■ | A copy of the Advisory Agreement and descriptions of the services provided by the Adviser thereunder; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the qualifications, education and experience of the investment professionals responsible for portfolio |
| management, investment research and trading activities for the Fund, the structure of their compensation and the resources available to support these activities; |
| |
■ | A report prepared by an independent consultant comparing the Fund’s investment performance (including, where relevant, total returns, standard deviations, Sharpe ratios, information ratios, beta and alpha) with respect to a representative class of shares of the Fund for the one-, three-, five- and ten-year periods (as applicable) ended March 31, 2018 with those of (i) a universe of mutual funds selected by the independent consultant with similar portfolio holding characteristics, share class attributes and other operational characteristics as the Fund (the “Category”), (ii) a sub group of funds selected from the Category by the independent consultant further limited to approximate more closely the Fund’s investment style, expense structure and asset size (the “Peer Group”), and (iii) an appropriate benchmark index; |
| |
■ | A report prepared by an independent consultant comparing the advisory fees and other expenses of a representative class of shares of the Fund during its fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 with a similar share class of each fund in the (i) Category and (ii) Peer Group; |
| |
■ | An analysis of the profitability of the Adviser with respect to its services for the Fund and the VanEck complex of mutual funds as a whole (the “VanEck Complex”); |
| |
■ | Information regarding other investment products and services offered by the Adviser involving investment objectives and strategies similar to the Fund (“Comparable Products”), including the fees charged by the Adviser for managing the Comparable Products, a description of material differences and similarities in the services provided by the Adviser for the Fund and the Comparable Products, the sizes of the Comparable Products and the identity of the individuals responsible for managing the Comparable Products; |
| |
■ | Information concerning the Adviser’s compliance program, the resources devoted to compliance efforts undertaken by the Adviser on behalf of the Fund, and reports regarding a variety of compliance-related issues; |
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
■ | Information with respect to the Adviser’s brokerage practices, including the Adviser’s processes for monitoring best execution of portfolio transactions and the benefits received by the Adviser from research acquired with soft dollars; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the procedures used by the Adviser in monitoring the valuation of portfolio securities, including the methodologies used in making fair value determinations, and the Adviser’s due diligence process for recommending the selection of pricing vendors and monitoring the quality of the inputs provided by such vendors; |
| |
■ | Information regarding how the Adviser safeguards the confidentiality and integrity of its data and files (both physical and electronic), as well as of any communications with third parties containing Fund and shareholder information, including reports regarding the Adviser’s cybersecurity framework and its implementation, the identification and monitoring of cybersecurity risks (including the risks that arise out of arrangements with third party service providers), the Adviser’s cybersecurity response policy and other initiatives of the Adviser to mitigate cybersecurity risks; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the Adviser’s policies and practices with respect to personal investing by the Adviser and its employees, including reports regarding the administration of the Adviser’s code of ethics and the Adviser’s policy with respect to investments in the Fund by the Adviser’s investment personnel; |
| |
■ | Descriptions of the processes that the Adviser uses to evaluate and monitor the liquidity of fixed-income instruments and information regarding the actions the Adviser has taken with respect to risk management and disclosure matters relating to changing fixed income market conditions; |
| |
■ | Descriptions of sub-transfer agency, omnibus account and other shareholder servicing arrangements for the Fund with intermediaries (collectively, “Servicing Arrangements”), including a description of the services provided by the intermediaries pursuant to such Servicing Arrangements and the payment terms of the Servicing Arrangements, as well as reports regarding the amounts paid pursuant to the Servicing Arrangements and the amounts paid to intermediaries with respect to the Fund by the |
| Adviser pursuant to any revenue sharing arrangements and Servicing Arrangements (to the extent not paid by the Fund); |
| |
■ | Descriptions of other administrative and other non-investment management services provided by the Adviser for the Fund, including the Adviser’s activities in managing relationships with the Fund’s custodian, transfer agent and other service providers; and |
| |
■ | Other information provided by the Adviser in its response to a comprehensive questionnaire prepared by independent legal counsel on behalf of the Independent Trustees. |
In determining whether to approve the continuation of the Advisory Agreement, the Board considered, among other things, the following: (1) the nature, quality, extent and cost of the investment management, administrative and other non-investment management services provided by the Adviser; (2) the nature, quality and extent of the services performed by the Adviser in interfacing with, and monitoring the services performed by, third parties, such as the Fund’s custodian, transfer agent, sub-transfer agents and independent auditor, and the Adviser’s commitment and efforts to review the quality and pricing of third party service providers to the Fund with a view to reducing non-management expenses of the Fund; (3) the terms of the Advisory Agreement and the services performed thereunder; (4) the willingness of the Adviser to reduce the overall expenses of the Fund from time to time, if necessary or appropriate, by means of waiving a portion of its fees or paying expenses of the Fund; (5) the quality of the services, procedures and processes used to determine the value of the Fund’s assets and the actions taken to monitor and test the effectiveness of such services, procedures and processes; (6) the ongoing efforts of, and resources devoted by, the Adviser with respect to the development and implementation of a comprehensive compliance program; (7) the responsiveness of the Adviser to inquiries from, and examinations by, regulatory authorities, including the Securities and Exchange Commission; (8) the resources committed by the Adviser in recent periods to information technology and cybersecurity; and (9) the ability of the Adviser to attract and retain quality professional personnel to perform investment advisory and administrative services for the Fund.
The Board considered the fact that the Adviser is managing other investment products, including exchange-traded funds, private funds, separate accounts and UCITSs, one or more of which may invest in the same financial markets and may be managed by the same
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
investment professionals according to a similar investment objective and/or strategy as the Fund. The Board concluded that the management of these products contributes to the Adviser’s financial stability and is helpful to the Adviser in attracting and retaining quality portfolio management personnel for the Fund. In addition, the Board concluded that the Adviser has established appropriate procedures to monitor conflicts of interest involving the management of the Fund and the other products and for resolving any such conflicts of interest in a fair and equitable manner.
The performance data and the advisory fee and expense ratio data described below for the Fund is based on data for a representative class of shares of the Fund. The performance data is net of expenses for periods on an annualized basis ended March 31, 2018, and the advisory fee and expense ratio data is as of the Fund’s fiscal year end of December 31, 2017.
Performance. The Board noted, based on a review of comparative annualized total returns, that the Fund had outperformed its Category and Peer Group medians over the one-, five-, and ten-year periods and that the Fund had outperformed its Category median for the three-year period, but had underperformed its Peer Group median for the three-year period. The Board also noted that the Fund had outperformed its benchmark index over the one-, three-, five-, and ten-year periods. The Board concluded that the performance of the Fund was satisfactory.
Fees and Expenses. The Board noted that the fee rate payable for advisory services and the total expense ratio, net of waivers or reimbursements, for the Fund were lower than the median advisory fee rate and the median expense ratio for its Peer Group. The Board also noted that the advisory fee rate for the Fund was equal to the median advisory fee rate for its Category, while the total expense ratio, net of waivers or reimbursements, for the Fund was higher than the median expense ratio for its Category. The Board also noted that the Adviser has agreed to waive fees or pay expenses of the Fund through April 2019 to the extent necessary to prevent the expense ratio of the Fund from exceeding a specified maximum amount (subject to certain exclusions).
On the basis of the foregoing, and in light of the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the Adviser, the Board concluded that the advisory fee rate charged to the Fund is reasonable.
Profitability and Economies of Scale. The Board considered the profits, if any, realized by the Adviser from managing the Fund and other mutual funds in the VanEck Complex and the methodology used to determine such profits. The Board noted that the levels of profitability reported on a fund-by-fund basis varied widely depending on such factors as the size, type of fund and operating history. The Board further noted that, in evaluating the reasonableness of the Adviser’s profits from managing any particular Fund, it would be appropriate to consider the size of the Adviser relative to other firms in the investment management industry and the impact on the Adviser’s profits of the volatility of the markets in which the Fund invests and the volatility of cash flow into and out of the Fund through various market cycles. Based on its review of the foregoing information, and in light of the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the Adviser, the Board concluded that the profits realized by the Adviser, if any, are deemed not to be excessive. In this regard, the Board also considered the extent to which the Adviser may realize economies of scale, if any, as the Fund grows and whether the Fund’s fee schedule reflects any economies of scale for the benefit of shareholders. The Board concluded that, with respect to the Fund, any economies of scale being realized are currently being shared by the Adviser and the Fund, and that adding or modifying existing (if any) breakpoints would not be warranted at this time for the Fund.
Conclusion. In determining the material factors to be considered in evaluating the Advisory Agreement for the Fund and the weight to be given to such factors, the members of the Board relied upon the advice of independent legal counsel and their own business judgment. The Board did not consider any single factor as controlling in determining whether to approve the continuation of the Advisory Agreement and each member of the Board may have placed varying emphasis on particular factors considered in reaching a conclusion. Moreover, this summary description does not necessarily identify all of the factors considered or conclusions reached by the Board. Based on its consideration of the foregoing factors and conclusions, and such other factors and conclusions as it deemed relevant, the Board (comprised exclusively of Independent Trustees) concluded that the continuation of the Advisory Agreement is in the interests of shareholders and, accordingly, the Board approved the continuation of the Advisory Agreement for the Fund for an additional one-year period.
This report is intended for the Fund’s shareholders. It may not be distributed to prospective investors unless it is preceded or accompanied by the Fund’s prospectus, which includes more complete information. Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Additional information about the VanEck VIP Trust’s (the “Trust”) Board of Trustees/Officers and a description of the policies and procedures the Trust uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities are provided in the Statement of Additional Information. The Statement of Additional Information and information regarding how the Trust voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent twelve month period ending June 30 is available, without charge, by calling 800.826.2333, or by visiting vaneck.com, or on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at https://www.sec.gov.
The Trust files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. The Trust’s Form N-Qs are available on the Commission’s website at https://www.sec.gov and may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 202.942.8090. The Fund’s complete schedule of portfolio holdings is also available by calling 800.826.2333 or by visiting vaneck.com.

Investment Adviser: | Van Eck Associates Corporation | |
Distributor: | Van Eck Securities Corporation | |
| 666 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 | |
| vaneck.com | |
Account Assistance: | 800.544.4653 | VIPEMSAR |
| SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT June 30, 2018 (unaudited) | |
VanEck VIP Trust
VanEck VIP Global Gold Fund
The information contained in this shareholder letter represents the opinion of the investment adviser and may change at any time. This information is not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results or investment advice. Current market conditions may not continue. Also, unless otherwise specifically noted, any discussion of the Fund’s holdings, the Fund’s performance, and the views of the investment adviser are as of June 30, 2018.
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Dear Shareholders:
We are pleased to present this semi-annual report, which affords us the opportunity to provide a review of the economic backdrop for the first half of the year. But first, in light of the many developments that occurred across global markets during the first half of 2018, we want to reemphasize VanEck’s corporate mission and its implications to you as our valued shareholders.
As you may know, VanEck has a history of looking beyond the financial markets to identify historical, political, and/or technological trends that are likely to create or impact investment opportunities. We were one of the first U.S. asset managers to offer investors access to international markets, which set the tone for our drive to identify promising asset classes and trends. In this respect, our unconventional (at the time) efforts to introduce investors to gold investing in 1968, emerging markets (including China) in 1993, and ETFs in 2006, are now considered mainstream, permanently shaping the investment management industry as we now know it.
Today, we offer both active and passive strategies with compelling exposures supported by well-designed investment processes. Our firm’s capabilities range from strategies designed to strengthen core investment allocations to more specialized exposures that enhance portfolio diversification and reduce volatility.
Putting clients’ interests first in all market environments is at the heart of the firm’s mission and has been since our founding in 1955. We will, as always, continue to seek out and evaluate the most attractive opportunities for you as shareholders.
As we wrote in our Market Insights research, which can be found at www.vaneck.com/blogs/market-insights, we began 2018 by noting that global growth had gone from “ticking up” to “firmly in place” and that, while central banks were tightening, Europe remained “two years” behind the U.S. in this trend and had a trickier task. Further, our base case was for 10-year interest rates to rise to 3.5% with the curve not inverting. In its third longest bull market ever, we remained bullish on U.S. equities in the short-term, but were prepared for a correction. And, finally, we believed that investors should not be underweight commodities as global growth was supporting the bullish “grind trade” narrative from supply cutbacks.
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
(unaudited) (continued)
Over the last six months we have seen interest rates in the U.S. rise as expected and, as a consequence, the U.S. dollar has strengthened. These events, along with both inflation fears and concern about trade and tariffs, have resulted not only in an increasingly evident decoupling of the U.S. dollar and emerging markets local currencies, but also significant outflows from emerging markets themselves (in May, for example, outflows were evenly split between equities and debt). From a regional perspective, countries in Latin America and Europe (e.g. Argentina and Turkey) rather than in Asia, have been the primary sources of emerging markets outflows. We still believe that credit exposure in high yield and emerging markets is still better than in governments, which have pure interest rate risk with no offset.
The biggest change in our outlook from six months ago is that global growth appears to be less synchronized—more relevant to the U.S. and China—with Europe uncertain and Africa, South America, and the Middle East struggling. In Europe, for example, economic growth has started to slow and weaker bank balance sheets remain an obstacle to monetary policy normalization. Despite these growing concerns, supply discipline has continued to support the bullish “grind trade” in commodities, with increasing chances of commodities and natural resources ending 2018 as the best performing area of the market.
To keep you informed on an ongoing basis, we encourage you to stay in touch with us through the videos, email subscriptions, and research blogs available on our website, vaneck.com. Should you have any questions regarding fund performance, please contact us at 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com.
We sincerely thank you for investing in VanEck’s investment strategies. On the following pages, you will find financial statements for the Fund for the six-month period ended June 30, 2018. As always, we value your continued confidence in us and look forward to helping you meet your investment goals in the future.

Jan F. van Eck
CEO and President
VanEck VIP Trust
July 17, 2018
Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
EXPLANATION OF EXPENSES
(unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including program fees on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other Fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand the ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period, January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018.
Actual Expenses
The first line in the table below provides information about account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the first line under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During the Period.”
Hypothetical Example for Comparison Purposes
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as fees on purchase payments. Therefore, the second line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| | Beginning Account Value January 1, 2018 | | Ending Account Value June 30, 2018 | | Expenses Paid During the Period* January 1, 2018 - June 30, 2018 |
Van Eck VIP Global Gold Fund | | | | | | |
Actual | | $1,000.00 | | $ 946.10 | | $7.00 |
Hypothetical** | | $1,000.00 | | $1,017.36 | | $7.25 |
| | | | | | |
* | Expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized expense ratio (for the six months ended June 30, 2018), of 1.45% multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by the number of days in the most recent fiscal half year divided by the number of the days in the fiscal year (to reflect the one-half year period). |
| |
** | Assumes annual return of 5% before expenses. |
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
CONSOLIDATED SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | |
COMMON STOCKS: 99.3% | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
Australia: 17.5% | | | | |
| 580,618 | | Cardinal Resources Ltd. * | | $ | 184,765 | |
| 520,192 | | Evolution Mining Ltd. # | | | 1,360,636 | |
| 988,210 | | Gold Road Resources Ltd. * # | | | 543,091 | |
| 18,400 | | Newcrest Mining Ltd. # | | | 298,763 | |
| 115,184 | | Northern Star Resources Ltd. # | | | 623,571 | |
| 123,639 | | OceanaGold Corp. (CAD) | | | 343,272 | |
| 11,820 | | Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd. * # | | | 19,310 | |
| 586,000 | | West African Resources Ltd. * | | | 164,794 | |
| 353,700 | | West African Resources Ltd. (CAD) * | | | 104,928 | |
| | | | | | 3,643,130 | |
Canada: 65.3% | | | | |
| 21,537 | | Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (USD) | | | 987,041 | |
| 1,100 | | Alamos Gold, Inc. | | | 6,267 | |
| 88,040 | | Alamos Gold, Inc. (USD) | | | 500,948 | |
| 71,076 | | Alio Gold, Inc. * | | | 103,263 | |
| 42,000 | | Allegiant Gold Ltd. * # § ø | | | 15,175 | |
| 33,800 | | Allegiant Gold Ltd. * | | | 12,212 | |
| 143,412 | | Argonaut Gold, Inc. * | | | 251,992 | |
| 294,100 | | Atacama Pacific Gold Corp. * | | | 145,411 | |
| 37,900 | | Auryn Resources, Inc. * | | | 40,937 | |
| 13,917 | | B2Gold Corp. * | | | 36,099 | |
| 497,171 | | B2Gold Corp. (USD) * | | | 1,282,701 | |
| 112,000 | | Bear Creek Mining Corp. * | | | 150,793 | |
| 473,088 | | Bonterra Resources, Inc. * | | | 145,743 | |
| 173,200 | | Columbus Gold Corp. * | | | 32,278 | |
| 277,843 | | Continental Gold, Inc. * | | | 800,993 | |
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | |
Canada: (continued) | | | | |
| 176,026 | | Corvus Gold, Inc. * | | $ | 345,451 | |
| 21,000 | | Corvus Gold, Inc. (USD) * | | | 41,580 | |
| 187,400 | | Eastmain Resources, Inc. * | | | 27,797 | |
| 110,864 | | Equinox Gold Corp. * | | | 82,643 | |
| 106,019 | | First Mining Gold Corp. * | | | 36,290 | |
| 48,206 | | Gold Standard Ventures Corp. (USD) * | | | 65,801 | |
| 45,900 | | Goldcorp, Inc. (USD) | | | 629,289 | |
| 95,100 | | Guyana Goldfields, Inc. * | | | 355,183 | |
| 114,900 | | IAMGOLD Corp. (USD) * | | | 667,569 | |
| 162,500 | | Kinross Gold Corp. (USD) * | | | 611,000 | |
| 66,552 | | Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. | | | 1,409,354 | |
| 6,600 | | Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (USD) | | | 139,392 | |
| 167,405 | | Leagold Mining Corp. * | | | 329,806 | |
| 320,442 | | Liberty Gold Corp. * | | | 107,249 | |
| 24,500 | | Lundin Gold, Inc. * | | | 85,354 | |
| 15,844 | | MAG Silver Corp. (USD) * | | | 171,274 | |
| 160,000 | | Metanor Resources, Inc. * ø | | | 71,806 | |
| 89,200 | | Midas Gold Corp. * | | | 66,494 | |
| 2,500 | | New Gold, Inc. * | | | 5,210 | |
| 77,600 | | New Gold, Inc. (USD) * | | | 161,408 | |
| 101,300 | | Nighthawk Gold Corp. * | | | 32,363 | |
| 99,000 | | Orezone Gold Corp. * # § ø | | | 58,843 | |
| 273,688 | | Orezone Gold Corp. * | | | 168,628 | |
| 5,000 | | Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. | | | 47,351 | |
| 7,800 | | Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. (USD) | | | 73,866 | |
| 110,270 | | Osisko Mining, Inc. * | | | 150,980 | |
| 128,200 | | Otis Gold Corp. * | | | 18,041 | |
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | |
Canada: (continued) | | | | |
| 76,400 | | Premier Gold Mines Ltd. * | | $ | 151,678 | |
| 31,900 | | Pretium Resources, Inc. (USD) * | | | 234,146 | |
| 122,000 | | Probe Metals, Inc. * # § ø | | | 113,817 | |
| 318,000 | | Pure Gold Mining * # § ø | | | 151,019 | |
| 145,000 | | Rio2 Ltd. (a) * # § ø | | | 110,295 | |
| 152,144 | | Roxgold, Inc. * | | | 129,617 | |
| 309,600 | | Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. * | | | 357,960 | |
| 156,104 | | Semafo, Inc. * | | | 452,407 | |
| 27,300 | | SSR Mining, Inc. (USD) * | | | 269,451 | |
| 41,200 | | TMAC Resources, Inc. * Reg S | | | 175,499 | |
| 19,900 | | Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (USD) | | | 438,994 | |
| 5,323 | | Yamana Gold, Inc. | | | 15,508 | |
| 192,925 | | Yamana Gold, Inc. (USD) | | | 559,482 | |
| | | | | | 13,631,748 | |
Mexico: 3.6% | | | | |
| 49,000 | | Fresnillo Plc (GBP) # | | | 738,416 | |
Monaco: 0.1% | | | | |
| 1,394 | | Endeavour Mining Corp. (CAD) * | | | 25,014 | |
South Africa: 0.2% | | | | |
| 11,800 | | Gold Fields Ltd. (ADR) | | | 42,126 | |
United Kingdom: 2.4% | | | | |
| 6,550 | | Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR) | | | 504,939 | |
United States: 10.2% | | | | |
| 34,700 | | Newmont Mining Corp. | | | 1,308,537 | |
| 8,900 | | Royal Gold, Inc. | | | 826,276 | |
| | | | | | 2,134,813 | |
Total Common Stocks (Cost: $16,269,720) | | | 20,720,186 | |
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | |
WARRANTS: 0.2% | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
Canada: 0.2% | | | | |
| 31,720 | | Alio Gold, Inc. Warrants (CAD 3.44, expiring 01/29/20) * # § | | $ | 1,911 | |
| 29,280 | | Alio Gold, Inc. Warrants (CAD 3.44, expiring 01/29/20) * # § ø | | | 1,764 | |
| 42,000 | | Allegiant Gold Ltd. Warrants (CAD 1.20, expiring 01/30/20) * # § ø | | | 1,198 | |
| 27,985 | | Leagold Mining Corp. Warrants (CAD 3.70, expiring 05/27/20) * # | | | 7,983 | |
| 62,450 | | Liberty Gold Corp. Warrants (CAD 0.90, expiring 05/16/19) | | | 1,425 | |
| 80,000 | | Metanor Resources, Inc. Warrants (CAD 0.90, expiring 12/28/19) * # ø | | | 5,933 | |
| 61,000 | | Probe Metals, Inc. Warrants (CAD 0.85, expiring 05/29/20) * # § ø | | | 11,484 | |
| 159,000 | | Pure Gold Mining Warrants (CAD 1.45, expiring 06/19/20) * # § ø | | | 15,420 | |
Total Warrants (Cost: $26,865) | | | 47,118 | |
MONEY MARKET FUND: 0.5% (Cost: $110,187) | | | | |
| 110,187 | | AIM Treasury Portfolio – Institutional Class | | | 110,187 | |
Total Investments: 100.0% (Cost: $16,406,772) | | | 20,877,491 | |
Other assets less liabilities: 0.0% | | | 1,679 | |
NET ASSETS: 100.0% | | $ | 20,879,170 | |
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
CONSOLIDATED SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
Definitions: |
ADR | American Depositary Receipt |
CAD | Canadian Dollar |
GBP | British Pound |
USD | United States Dollar |
| |
Footnotes: |
(a) | Subscription Receipts - each subscription receipt will entitle the Fund to receive one unit (a unit consists of one common share of stock and one warrant of Rio2 Ltd.) upon satisfaction of certain escrow release conditions. If these conditions are not met, the aggregate issue price and pro rata portion of any interest earned thereon will be refunded to the Fund. |
* | Non-income producing |
# | Security has been fair valued in good faith pursuant to guidelines established by the Board of Trustees. The aggregate value of fair valued securities is $4,078,629 which represents 19.5% of net assets. |
§ | Illiquid Security - the aggregate value of illiquid securities is $486,859 which represents 2.3% of net assets. |
ø | Restricted Security - the aggregate value of restricted securities is $556,754, or 2.7% of net assets. |
Reg S | Security was purchased pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, which exempts from registration securities offered and sold outside of the United States. Such a security cannot be sold in the United States without either an effective registration statement filed pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, or pursuant to an exemption from registration. |
Restricted securities held by the Fund as of June 30, 2018 are as follows:
Security | | Acquisition Date | | Number of Shares | | Acquisition Cost | | Value | | % of Net Assets | |
Alio Gold, Inc. Warrants | | 01/22/2018 | | | 29,280 | | | | $ — | | | | $ 1,764 | | | | 0.0 | % | |
Allegiant Gold Ltd. | | 11/20/2017 | | | 42,000 | | | | 19,879 | | | | 15,175 | | | | 0.1 | | |
Allegiant Gold Ltd. Warrants | | 02/09/2018 | | | 42,000 | | | | — | | | | 1,198 | | | | 0.0 | | |
Metanor Resources, Inc. | | 12/22/2017 | | | 160,000 | | | | 88,023 | | | | 71,806 | | | | 0.3 | | |
Metanor Resources, Inc. Warrants | | 12/28/2017 | | | 80,000 | | | | — | | | | 5,933 | | | | 0.0 | | |
Orezone Gold Corp. | | 03/26/2018 | | | 99,000 | | | | 61,594 | | | | 58,843 | | | | 0.3 | | |
Probe Metals, Inc. | | 05/24/2018 | | | 122,000 | | | | 108,836 | | | | 113,817 | | | | 0.6 | | |
Probe Metals, Inc. Warrants | | 06/19/2018 | | | 61,000 | | | | — | | | | 11,484 | | | | 0.1 | | |
Pure Gold Mining | | 05/16/2018 | | | 318,000 | | | | 154,079 | | | | 151,019 | | | | 0.7 | | |
Pure Gold Mining Warrants | | 05/24/2018 | | | 159,000 | | | | — | | | | 15,420 | | | | 0.1 | | |
Rio2 Ltd. | | 05/15/2018 | | | 145,000 | | | | 112,691 | | | | 110,295 | | | | 0.5 | | |
| | | | | | | | | $545,102 | | | | $556,754 | | | | 2.7 | % | |
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Summary of Investments by Sector | | | % of Investments | | Value | |
Diversified Metals & Mining | | | 2.5 | % | | $ | 509,337 | |
Gold | | | | 89.1 | | | | 18,607,510 | |
Money Market Fund | | | | 0.5 | | | | 110,187 | |
Precious Metals & Minerals | | | 5.0 | | | | 1,040,189 | |
Silver | | | | 2.9 | | | | 610,268 | |
| | | | 100.0 | % | | $ | 20,877,491 | |
The summary of inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of June 30, 2018 is as follows:
| | Level 1 Quoted Prices | | | Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs | | | Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs | | Value | |
Common Stocks | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Australia | | $ | 797,759 | | | $ | 2,845,371 | | | | $ | — | | | $ | 3,643,130 | |
Canada | | | 13,182,599 | | | | 449,149 | | | | | — | | | | 13,631,748 | |
Mexico | | | — | | | | 738,416 | | | | | — | | | | 738,416 | |
Monaco | | | 25,014 | | | | — | | | | | — | | | | 25,014 | |
South Africa | | | 42,126 | | | | — | | | | | — | | | | 42,126 | |
United Kingdom | | | 504,939 | | | | — | | | | | — | | | | 504,939 | |
United States | | | 2,134,813 | | | | — | | | | | — | | | | 2,134,813 | |
Warrants | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Canada | | | 1,425 | | | | 45,693 | | | | | — | | | | 47,118 | |
Money Market Funds | | | 110,187 | | | | — | | | | | — | | | | 110,187 | |
Total | | $ | 16,798,862 | | | $ | 4,078,629 | | | | $ | — | | | $ | 20,877,491 | |
During the period ended June 30, 2018, transfers of securities from Level 2 to Level 1 were $307,557. These transfers resulted primarily from changes in certain foreign securities valuation methodologies between the last close of the securities’ primary market (Level 1) and valuation by the pricing service (Level 2), which takes into account market direction or events occurring before the Fund’s pricing time but after the last local close, as described in the Notes to Financial Statements.
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Assets: | | | | |
Investments, at value (Cost $16,406,772) | | $ | 20,877,491 | |
Cash denominated in foreign currency, at value (Cost $231) | | | 231 | |
Receivables: | | | | |
Investments sold | | | 548,351 | |
Shares of beneficial interest sold | | | 5,402 | |
Dividends | | | 2,730 | |
Prepaid expenses | | | 29,560 | |
Total assets | | | 21,463,765 | |
Liabilities: | | | | |
Payables: | | | | |
Investments purchased | | | 534,953 | |
Shares of beneficial interest redeemed | | | 14,982 | |
Due to Adviser | | | 4,976 | |
Due to Distributor | | | 4,260 | |
Deferred Trustee fees | | | 7,942 | |
Accrued expenses | | | 17,482 | |
Total liabilities | | | 584,595 | |
NET ASSETS | | $ | 20,879,170 | |
Class S Shares: | | | | |
Net Assets | | $ | 20,879,170 | |
Shares of beneficial interest outstanding | | | 2,984,839 | |
Net asset value, redemption and offering price per share | | $ | 7.00 | |
Net Assets consist of: | | | | |
Aggregate paid in capital | | $ | 23,738,760 | |
Net unrealized appreciation | | | 4,470,553 | |
Accumulated net investment loss | | | (1,435,989 | ) |
Accumulated net realized loss | | | (5,894,154 | ) |
| | $ | 20,879,170 | |
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Income: | | | | | | | | |
Dividends (net of foreign taxes withheld of $2,822) | | | | | | $ | 102,820 | |
Expenses: | | | | | | | | |
Management fees | | $ | 77,891 | | | | | |
Distribution fees | | | 25,964 | | | | | |
Transfer agent fees | | | 12,355 | | | | | |
Administration fees | | | 25,964 | | | | | |
Custodian fees | | | 9,649 | | | | | |
Professional fees | | | 26,282 | | | | | |
Reports to shareholders | | | 12,786 | | | | | |
Insurance | | | 501 | | | | | |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | | | 1,403 | | | | | |
Interest | | | 499 | | | | | |
Other | | | 600 | | | | | |
Total expenses | | | 193,894 | | | | | |
Waiver of management fees | | | (42,839 | ) | | | | |
Net expenses | | | | | | | 151,055 | |
Net investment loss | | | | | | | (48,235 | ) |
Net realized gain (loss) on: | | | | | | | | |
Investments | | | | | | | (312,174 | ) |
Forward foreign currency contracts | | | | | | | (4,932 | ) |
Foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities | | | | | | | 3,098 | |
Net realized loss | | | | | | | (314,008 | ) |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on: | | | | | | | | |
Investments | | | | | | | (895,851 | ) |
Foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities | | | | | | | 756 | |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | | | | | (895,095 | ) |
Net Decrease in Net Assets Resulting from Operations | | | | | | $ | (1,257,338 | ) |
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS
| | Six Months Ended June 30, 2018 | | | Year Ended December 31, 2017 | |
| | (unaudited) | | | | |
Operations: | | | | | | | | |
Net investment loss | | $ | (48,235 | ) | | $ | (206,412 | ) |
Net realized loss | | | (314,008 | ) | | | (1,596,742 | ) |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | (895,095 | ) | | | 3,861,573 | |
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | | | (1,257,338 | ) | | | 2,058,419 | |
Dividends to shareholders from: | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | (575,681 | ) | | | (992,773 | ) |
Share transactions*: | | | | | | | | |
Proceeds from sale of shares | | | 6,790,948 | | | | 14,955,535 | |
Reinvestment of dividends | | | 575,681 | | | | 992,773 | |
Cost of shares redeemed | | | (6,014,359 | ) | | | (15,177,694 | ) |
Net increase in net assets resulting from share transactions | | | 1,352,270 | | | | 770,614 | |
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | | | (480,749 | ) | | | 1,836,260 | |
Net Assets: | | | | | | | | |
Beginning of period | | | 21,359,919 | | | | 19,523,659 | |
End of period (including accumulated net investment loss of ($1,435,989) and ($812,073), respectively) | | $ | 20,879,170 | | | $ | 21,359,919 | |
* Shares of beneficial interest issued, reinvested and redeemed (unlimited number of $.001 par value shares authorized): | | | | | | | | |
Shares sold | | | 945,415 | | | | 1,961,263 | |
Shares reinvested | | | 77,066 | | | | 126,468 | |
Shares redeemed | | | (846,347 | ) | | | (2,025,338 | ) |
Net increase | | | 176,134 | | | | 62,393 | |
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
For a share outstanding throughout each period:
| | For the Six Months Ended June 30, | | Year Ended December 31, | | | For the Period April 26, 2013 (a) through December 31, |
| | 2018 | | 2017 | | | 2016 | | | 2015 | | | 2014 | | | 2013 |
| | (unaudited) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net asset value, beginning of period | | | $ | 7.60 | | | $ | 7.11 | | | $ | 4.83 | | | $ | 6.42 | | | $ | 6.85 | | | | $ | 8.88 | |
Income from investment operations: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment loss | | | | (0.02 | )(c) | | | (0.07 | )(c) | | | (0.04 | ) | | | (0.02 | ) | | | (0.04 | ) | | | | (0.02 | ) |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments | | | | (0.38 | ) | | | 0.91 | | | | 2.35 | | | | (1.54 | ) | | | (0.36 | ) | | | | (2.01 | ) |
Total from investment operations | | | | (0.40 | ) | | | 0.84 | | | | 2.31 | | | | (1.56 | ) | | | (0.40 | ) | | | | (2.03 | ) |
Less dividends and distributions from: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | | (0.20 | ) | | | (0.35 | ) | | | (0.03 | ) | | | — | | | | (0.03 | ) | | | | — | |
Net realized capital gains | | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | | | | (0.03 | ) | | | — | | | | | — | |
Total dividends and distributions | | | | (0.20 | ) | | | (0.35 | ) | | | (0.03 | ) | | | (0.03 | ) | | | (0.03 | ) | | | | — | |
Net asset value, end of period | | | $ | 7.00 | | | $ | 7.60 | | | $ | 7.11 | | | $ | 4.83 | | | $ | 6.42 | | | | $ | 6.85 | |
Total return (b) | | | | (5.39 | )%(d) | | | 11.63 | % | | | 48.25 | % | | | (24.43 | )% | | | (5.89 | )% | | | | (22.86 | )%(d) |
Ratios/Supplemental Data | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net assets, end of period (000’s) | | | $ | 20,879 | | | $ | 21,360 | | | $ | 19,524 | | | $ | 7,750 | | | $ | 7,599 | | | | $ | 4,820 | |
Ratio of gross expenses to average net assets | | | | 1.87 | %(e) | | | 2.03 | % | | | 1.84 | % | | | 2.46 | % | | | 2.41 | % | | | | 4.82 | %(e) |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets | | | | 1.45 | %(e) | | | 1.45 | % | | | 1.45 | % | | | 1.45 | % | | | 1.45 | % | | | | 1.45 | %(e) |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets excluding interest expense | | | | 1.45 | %(e) | | | 1.45 | % | | | 1.45 | % | | | 1.45 | % | | | 1.45 | % | | | | 1.45 | %(e) |
Ratio of net investment loss to average net assets | | | | (0.46 | )%(e) | | | (0.96 | )% | | | (1.00 | )% | | | (0.57 | )% | | | (0.88 | )% | | | | (0.55 | )%(e) |
Portfolio turnover rate | | | | 30 | %(d) | | | 65 | % | | | 57 | % | | | 44 | % | | | 33 | % | | | | 33 | %(d) |
(a) | Commencement of operations |
(b) | Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of period, reinvestment of any dividends and distributions at net asset value on the dividend/distribution payment date and a redemption at the net asset value on the last day of the period. The return does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund dividends/distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Total returns do not include fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract and/or life insurance policy. If these amounts were reflected, the returns would be lower than those shown. |
(c) | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
(d) | Not annualized |
(e) | Annualized |
See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Note 1—Fund Organization—VanEck VIP Trust (the “Trust”) is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, as an open-end management investment company. The Trust was organized as a Massachusetts business trust on January 7, 1987. The VanEck VIP Global Gold Fund (the “Fund”) is a non-diversified series of the Trust and seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in common stocks of gold-mining companies or directly in gold bullion and other metals. The Fund may effect certain investments through the wholly owned VIP Gold Fund Subsidiary (the “Subsidiary”). The Fund currently offers a single class of shares: Class S shares.
Note 2—Significant Accounting Policies—The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
The Fund is an investment company and is following accounting and reporting requirements of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 946 Financial Services — Investment Companies.
The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund.
A. | Security Valuation—The Fund values its investments in securities and other assets and liabilities at fair value daily. Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Securities traded on national exchanges or traded on the NASDAQ National Market System are valued at the last sales price reported at the close of each business day. Securities traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market are valued at the NASDAQ official closing price. Over-the-counter securities not included in the NASDAQ National Market System and listed securities for which no sale was reported are valued at the mean of the bid and ask prices. To the extent these securities are actively traded they are categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy (as described below). Certain foreign securities, whose values may be affected by market direction or events occurring before the Fund’s pricing time (4:00 p.m. Eastern Time) but after the last close of the securities’ primary market, are fair valued using a pricing service and are categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy. The pricing service, using methods approved by the Board of Trustees, considers the correlation of the trading patterns of the foreign security to intraday trading in the U.S. market, based on indices of domestic securities and other appropriate indicators such as prices of relevant ADR’s and futures |
| contracts. The Fund may also fair value securities in other situations, such as when a particular foreign market is closed but the Fund is open. Short-term debt securities with sixty days or less to maturity are valued at amortized cost, which with accrued interest approximates fair value. Money market fund investments are valued at net asset value and are classified as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. The Pricing Committee of Van Eck Associates Corporation (“the Adviser”) provides oversight of the Fund’s valuation policies and procedures, which are approved by the Fund’s Board of Trustees. Among other things, these procedures allow the Fund to utilize independent pricing services, quotations from securities dealers, and other market sources to determine fair value. The Pricing Committee convenes regularly to review the fair value of financial instruments or other assets. If market quotations for a security or other asset are not readily available, or if the Adviser believes it does not otherwise reflect the fair value of a security or asset, the security or asset will be fair valued by the Pricing Committee in accordance with the Fund’s valuation policies and procedures. The Pricing Committee employs various methods for calibrating the valuation approaches utilized to determine fair value, including a regular review of key inputs and assumptions, periodic comparisons to valuations provided by other independent pricing services, transactional back-testing and disposition analysis. |
| Certain factors such as economic conditions, political events, market trends, the nature of and duration of any restrictions on disposition, trading in similar securities of the issuer or comparable issuers and other security specific information are used to determine the fair value of these securities. Depending on the relative significance of valuation inputs, these securities may be classified either as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The price which the Fund may realize upon sale of an investment may differ materially from the value presented in the Consolidated Schedule of Investments. |
| The Fund utilizes various methods to measure the fair value of its investments on a recurring basis which includes a hierarchy that prioritizes inputs to valuation methods used to measure fair value. The fair value hierarchy gives highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). The inputs or methodologies used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities. The transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy assume the financial instruments were transferred at the beginning of the reporting period. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are described below: |
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
Level 1 – | Quoted prices in active markets for identical securities. |
| |
Level 2 – | Significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.). |
| |
Level 3 – | Significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments). |
| A summary of the inputs, the levels used to value the Fund’s investments, and transfers between levels are located in the Consolidated Schedule of Investments. Additionally, tables that reconcile the valuation of the Fund’s Level 3 investments and that present additional information about valuation methodologies and unobservable inputs, if applicable, are located in the Consolidated Schedule of Investments. |
| |
B. | Basis for Consolidation—The Subsidiary, a Cayman Islands exempted company, was incorporated on January 25, 2013. The Subsidiary acts as an investment vehicle in order to effect certain investments on behalf of the Fund. All interfund account balances and transactions between the Fund and Subsidiary have been eliminated in consolidation. As of June 30, 2018, the Fund held $14,428 in its Subsidiary, representing 0.07% of the Fund’s net assets. |
| |
C. | Federal Income Taxes—It is the Fund’s policy to comply with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to regulated investment companies and to distribute all of its net investment income to its shareholders. Therefore, no federal income tax provision is required. |
| |
D. | Currency Translation—Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies and commitments under foreign currency contracts are translated into U.S. dollars at the closing prices of such currencies each business day as quoted by one or more sources. Purchases and sales of investments are translated at the exchange rates prevailing when such investments are acquired or sold. Income and expenses are translated at the exchange rates prevailing when accrued. The portion of realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments that result from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates is not separately disclosed. Such amounts are included with the net realized and unrealized gains and losses on investment securities in the Statement of Operations. Recognized gains or losses attributable to foreign currency fluctuations on foreign currency denominated assets, other than investments and forward foreign currency contracts, and liabilities are recorded as net realized gain (loss) on foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities in the Consolidated Statement of Operations. |
E. | Dividends and Distributions to Shareholders—Dividends to shareholders from net investment income and distributions from net realized capital gains, if any, are declared and paid annually. Income dividends and capital gain distributions are determined in accordance with U.S. income tax regulations, which may differ from such amounts determined in accordance with GAAP. |
| |
F. | Restricted Securities—The Fund may invest in securities that are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale. These securities generally may be resold in transactions exempt from registration or to the public if the securities are registered. Disposal of these securities may involve time-consuming negotiations and expense, and prompt sale at an acceptable price may be difficult. Information regarding restricted securities, if any, is included at the end of the Fund’s Consolidated Schedule of Investments. |
| |
G. | Warrants—The Fund may invest in warrants whose values are linked to indices or underlying instruments. The Fund may use these warrants to gain exposure to markets that might be difficult to invest in through conventional securities. Warrants may be more volatile than their linked indices or underlying instruments. Potential losses are limited to the amount of the original investment. Warrants held at June 30, 2018 are reflected in the Consolidated Schedule of Investments. |
| |
H. | Use of Derivative Instruments—The Fund may make investments in derivative instruments, including, but not limited to, options, futures, swaps and other derivatives relating to foreign currency transactions. A derivative is an instrument whose value is derived from underlying assets, indices, reference rates or a combination of these factors. Derivative instruments may be privately negotiated contracts (often referred to as over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives) or they may be listed and traded on an exchange. Derivative contracts may involve future commitments to purchase or sell financial instruments at specified terms on a specified date, or to exchange interest payment streams or currencies based on a notional or contractual amount. Derivative instruments may involve a high degree of financial risk. The use of derivative instruments also involves the risk of loss if the investment adviser is incorrect in its expectation of the timing or level of fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency prices. Investments in derivative instruments also include the risk of default by the counterparty, the risk that the investment may not be liquid and the risk that a small movement in the price of the underlying security or benchmark may result in a disproportionately large movement, unfavorable or favorable, in the price of the derivative instrument. At June 30, 2018, the Fund held no derivative instruments. |
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
| | Forward Foreign Currency Contracts—The Fund is subject to foreign currency risk in the normal course of pursuing its investment objectives. The Fund may buy and sell forward foreign currency contracts to settle purchases and sales of foreign denominated securities, gain currency exposure or to hedge foreign denominated assets. Realized gains and losses from forward foreign currency contracts, if any, are included in realized gain (loss) on forward foreign currency contracts in the Statement of Operations. The Fund may incur additional risk from investments in forward foreign currency contracts if the counterparty is unable to fulfill its obligation or there are unanticipated movements of the foreign currency relative to the U.S. dollar. The Fund held forward foreign currency contracts for one month during the year ended June 30, 2018 with an average unrealized depreciation of $1,940. At June 30, 2018, the Fund held no forward foreign currency contracts. |
The impact of transactions in derivative instruments during the year ended June 30, 2018, was as follows:
| | Foreign Currency Risk |
Realized gain (loss): | | |
Forward foreign currency contacts1 | | $ (4,932) |
1 | Consolidated Statement of Operations location: Net realized gain (loss) on forward foreign currency contracts |
I. | Other—Security transactions are accounted for on trade date. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except that certain dividends from foreign securities are recognized upon notification of the ex-dividend date. Interest income, including amortization of premiums and discounts, is accrued as earned. Realized gains and losses are calculated on the identified cost basis. |
| |
| In the normal course of business, the Fund enters into contracts that contain a variety of general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these agreements is unknown as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund that have not yet occurred. However, the Adviser believes the risk of loss under these arrangements to be remote. |
Note 3—Investment Management and Other Agreements—The Adviser is the investment adviser to the Fund. The Adviser receives a management fee, calculated daily and payable monthly based on an annual rate of 0.75% of the first $500 million of the Fund’s average daily net assets, 0.65% of the next $250 million of average daily net assets and 0.50% of the average daily
net assets in excess of $750 million. The Adviser has agreed, until at least May 1, 2019, to waive management fees and assume expenses to prevent the Fund’s total annual operating expense (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, interest expense, trading expenses, dividend and interest payments on securities sold short, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 1.45% of the Fund’s average daily net assets. Refer to the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the amounts waived/assumed by the Adviser for the period ended June 30, 2018.
The Adviser also performs accounting and administrative services for the Fund. The Adviser is paid a monthly fee at a rate of 0.25% of the average daily net assets for the Fund per year on the first $750 million of the average daily net assets, and 0.20% per year of the average daily net assets in excess of $750 million. The amount received by the Adviser pursuant to this contract for the period ended June 30, 2018 is recorded as Administration fees in the Consolidated Statement of Operations.
In addition, Van Eck Securities Corporation (the “Distributor”), an affiliate of the Adviser, acts as the Fund’s distributor. Certain officers and trustees of the Trust are officers, directors or stockholders of the Adviser and Distributor.
Note 4—12b-1 Plan of Distribution—The Trust and the Distributor are parties to a distribution agreement dated April 26, 2013. The Fund has adopted a Distribution Plan (the “Plan”) in accordance with Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Pursuant to the Plan, the Fund is authorized to incur distribution expenses which will principally be payments to securities dealers who have sold shares and serviced shareholder accounts, and payments to the Distributor for reimbursement of other actual promotion and distribution expenses incurred by the Distributor on behalf of the Fund. The amount paid in any one year is 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets.
Note 5—Investments—For the period ended June 30, 2018, the cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of investments, excluding U.S. government securities and short-term obligations, aggregated to $7,479,228 and $6,282,124, respectively.
Note 6—Income Taxes—At June 30, 2018, for Federal income tax purposes, the identified cost of investments owned, net unrealized appreciation (depreciation), gross unrealized appreciation, and gross unrealized depreciation of investments were as follows:
Cost of Investments | | Gross Unrealized Appreciation | | Gross Unrealized Depreciation | | Net Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation) | |
$18,877,917 | | $5,202,139 | | $ (3,202,565) | | $1,999,574 | |
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
The tax character of dividends and distributions paid to shareholders during the Period ended December 31, 2017 were as follows:
The tax character or current year distributions will be determined at the end of the current fiscal year.
At December 31, 2017, the Fund had capital loss carryforwards available to offset future capital gains, as follows:
Short-Term Capital Losses with No Expiration | | Long-Term Capital Losses with No Expiration | | Total | |
$ (1,681,058) | | $ (2,802,686) | | $ (4,483,744) | |
The Fund recognizes the tax benefits of uncertain tax positions only where the position is “more-likely-than-not” to be sustained assuming examination by applicable tax authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund’s tax positions, and has concluded that no liability for unrecognized tax benefits should be recorded related to uncertain tax positions expected to be taken on return filings for all open tax years. The Fund does not have exposure for additional years that might still be open in certain foreign jurisdictions. Therefore, no provision for income tax is required in the Fund’s consolidated financial statements. However, the Fund is subject to foreign taxes on the appreciation in value of certain investments. The Fund provides for such taxes, if any, on both realized and unrealized appreciation.
The Fund recognizes interest and penalties, if any, related to uncertain tax positions as income tax expense in the Consolidated Statement of Operations. During the period ended June 30, 2018, the Fund did not incur any interest or penalties.
Note 7—Concentration of Risk—The Fund may purchase securities on foreign exchanges. Securities of foreign issuers involve special risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. issuers. These risks include devaluation of currencies, less reliable information about issuers, different securities transaction clearance and settlement practices, and future adverse political and economic developments. These risks are heightened for investments in emerging market countries. Moreover, securities of many foreign issuers and their markets may be less liquid and their prices more volatile than those of comparable U.S. issuers.
The Fund may concentrate its investments in companies which are significantly engaged in the exploration, development, production and distribution of gold and other natural resources such as strategic and other metals, minerals, forest products, oil, natural gas and coal, and by investing in gold bullion and coins. In addition, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its
net assets in gold and silver coins, gold, silver, platinum and palladium bullion and exchange traded funds that invest in such coins and bullion and derivatives on the foregoing. Since the Fund may so concentrate, it may be subject to greater risks and market fluctuations than other more diversified portfolios. The production and marketing of gold and other natural resources may be affected by actions and changes in governments. In addition, gold and natural resources may be cyclical in nature.
At June 30, 2018, the aggregate shareholder accounts of three insurance companies owned approximately 77%, 15% and 6% of the Fund’s outstanding shares of beneficial interest.
A more complete description of risks is included in the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information.
Note 8—Trustee Deferred Compensation Plan—The Trust has a Deferred Compensation Plan (the “Deferred Plan”) for Trustees under which the Trustees can elect to defer receipt of their trustee fees until retirement, disability or termination from the Board of Trustees. The fees otherwise payable to the participating Trustees are deemed invested in shares of eligible Funds of the Trust and the Van Eck Funds (another registered investment company managed by the Adviser) as directed by the Trustees.
The expense for the Deferred Plan is included in “Trustees’ fees and expenses” in the Consolidated Statement of Operations. The liability for the Deferred Plan is shown as “Deferred Trustee fees” in the Consolidated Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
Note 9—Bank Line of Credit—The Trust participates with VanEck Funds (collectively the “VE/VIP Funds”) in a $30 million committed credit facility (the “Facility”) to be utilized for temporary financing until the settlement of sales or purchases of portfolio securities, the repurchase or redemption of shares of the Fund and other temporary or emergency purposes. The participating VE/VIP Funds have agreed to pay commitment fees, pro rata, based on the unused but available balance. Interest is charged to the VE/VIP Funds at rates based on prevailing market rates in effect at the time of borrowings. During the period ended June 30, 2018, the average daily loan balance during the 7 day period for which a loan was outstanding amounted to $680,492 and the average interest rate was 3.24%. At June 30, 2018, the Fund had no outstanding borrowings under the Facility.
Note 10—Subsequent Event Review—The Fund has evaluated subsequent events and transactions for potential recognition or disclosure through the date the consolidated financial statements were issued.
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
VANECK VIP GLOBAL GOLD FUND
(the “Fund”)
The Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), provides, in substance, that an investment advisory agreement between a fund and its investment adviser may be entered into only if it is approved, and may continue in effect from year to year after an initial two-year period only if its continuance is approved, at least annually by the fund’s board of trustees, including by a vote of a majority of the trustees who are not “interested persons” of the fund as defined in the 1940 Act (the “Independent Trustees”), cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of considering such approval. On June 12, 2018, the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of VanEck VIP Trust (the “Trust”), which is comprised exclusively of Independent Trustees, voted to approve the continuation of the existing advisory agreement (the “Advisory Agreement”) between the Fund and its investment adviser, Van Eck Associates Corporation (together with its affiliated companies, the “Adviser”). Information regarding the material factors considered and related conclusions reached by the Board in approving the continuation of the Advisory Agreement is set forth below.
In considering the continuation of the Advisory Agreement, the Board reviewed and considered information that had been provided by the Adviser throughout the year at meetings of the Board and its committees, including information requested by the Board and furnished by the Adviser for meetings of the Board held on May 14, 2018 and June 12, 2018 specifically for the purpose of considering the continuation of the Advisory Agreement. The written and oral reports provided to the Board included, among other things, the following:
■ | Information about the overall organization of the Adviser and the Adviser’s short-term and long-term business plans with respect to its mutual fund operations and other lines of business; |
| |
■ | The consolidated financial statements of the Adviser for the past two fiscal years; |
| |
■ | A copy of the Advisory Agreement and descriptions of the services provided by the Adviser thereunder; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the qualifications, education and experience of the investment professionals responsible for portfolio |
| management, investment research and trading activities for the Fund, the structure of their compensation and the resources available to support these activities; |
■ | A report prepared by an independent consultant comparing the Fund’s investment performance (including, where relevant, total returns, standard deviations, Sharpe ratios, information ratios, beta and alpha) with respect to a representative class of shares of the Fund for the one-, three-, five- and ten-year periods (as applicable) ended March 31, 2018 with those of (i) a universe of mutual funds selected by the independent consultant with similar portfolio holding characteristics, share class attributes and other operational characteristics as the Fund (the “Category”), (ii) a subgroup of funds selected from the Category by the independent consultant further limited to approximate more closely the Fund’s investment style, expense structure and asset size (the “Peer Group”) and (iii) an appropriate benchmark index; |
| |
■ | A report prepared by an independent consultant comparing the advisory fees and other expenses of a representative class of shares of the Fund during its fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 with a similar share class of each fund in the (i) Category and (ii) Peer Group; |
| |
■ | A supplemental report prepared by an independent consultant comparing total management fee rates, which include both advisory and administrative fee rates on a combined basis (the “Management Fee Rates”), and, separately, the administrative fee rates and advisory fee rates with respect to a representative class of shares of the Fund during its fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 with those of the Fund’s (i) Category and (ii) Peer Group; |
| |
■ | An analysis of the profitability of the Adviser with respect to its services for the Fund and the VanEck complex of mutual funds as a whole (the “VanEck Complex”); |
| |
■ | Information regarding other investment products and services offered by the Adviser involving investment objectives and strategies similar to the Fund (“Comparable Products”), including the fees charged by the Adviser for managing the Comparable Products, a description of material differences and similarities in the services provided by the Adviser for the Fund and the Comparable Products, the sizes of the Comparable Products and |
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
| the identity of the individuals responsible for managing the Comparable Products; |
| |
■ | Information concerning the Adviser’s compliance program, the resources devoted to compliance efforts undertaken by the Adviser on behalf of the Fund, and reports regarding a variety of compliance-related issues; |
| |
■ | Information with respect to the Adviser’s brokerage practices, including the Adviser’s processes for monitoring best execution of portfolio transactions and the benefits received by the Adviser from research acquired with soft dollars; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the procedures used by the Adviser in monitoring the valuation of portfolio securities, including the methodologies used in making fair value determinations, and the Adviser’s due diligence process for recommending the selection of pricing vendors and monitoring the quality of the inputs provided by such vendors; |
| |
■ | Information regarding how the Adviser safeguards the confidentiality and integrity of its data and files (both physical and electronic), as well as of any communications with third parties containing Fund and shareholder information, including reports regarding the Adviser’s cybersecurity framework and its implementation, the identification and monitoring of cybersecurity risks (including the risks that arise out of arrangements with third party service providers), the Adviser’s cybersecurity response policy and other initiatives of the Adviser to mitigate cybersecurity risks; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the Adviser’s policies and practices with respect to personal investing by the Adviser and its employees, including reports regarding the administration of the Adviser’s code of ethics and the Adviser’s policy with respect to investments in the Fund by the Adviser’s investment personnel; |
| |
■ | Descriptions of the processes that the Adviser uses to evaluate and monitor the liquidity of fixed-income instruments and information regarding the actions the Adviser has taken with respect to risk management and disclosure matters relating to changing fixed income market conditions; |
| |
■ | Descriptions of sub-transfer agency, omnibus account and other shareholder servicing arrangements for the Fund with |
| intermediaries (collectively, “Servicing Arrangements”), including a description of the services provided by the intermediaries pursuant to such Servicing Arrangements and the payment terms of the Servicing Arrangements, as well as reports regarding the amounts paid pursuant to the Servicing Arrangements and the amounts paid to intermediaries with respect to the Fund by the Adviser pursuant to any revenue sharing arrangements and Servicing Arrangements (to the extent not paid by the Fund); |
| |
■ | Descriptions of other administrative and other non-investment management services provided by the Adviser for the Fund, including the Adviser’s activities in managing relationships with the Fund’s custodian, transfer agent and other service providers; and |
| |
■ | Other information provided by the Adviser in its response to a comprehensive questionnaire prepared by independent legal counsel on behalf of the Independent Trustees. |
In determining whether to approve the continuation of the Advisory Agreement, the Board considered, among other things, the following: (1) the nature, quality, extent and cost of the investment management, administrative and other non-investment management services provided by the Adviser; (2) the nature, quality and extent of the services performed by the Adviser in interfacing with, and monitoring the services performed by, third parties, such as the Fund’s custodian, transfer agent, sub-transfer agents and independent auditor, and the Adviser’s commitment and efforts to review the quality and pricing of third party service providers to the Fund with a view to reducing non-management expenses of the Fund; (3) the terms of the Advisory Agreement and the services performed thereunder; (4) the willingness of the Adviser to reduce the overall expenses of the Fund from time to time, if necessary or appropriate, by means of waiving a portion of its fees or paying expenses of the Fund; (5) the quality of the services, procedures and processes used to determine the value of the Fund’s assets and the actions taken to monitor and test the effectiveness of such services, procedures and processes; (6) the ongoing efforts of, and resources devoted by, the Adviser with respect to the development and implementation of a comprehensive compliance program; (7) the responsiveness of the Adviser to inquiries from, and examinations by, regulatory authorities, including the Securities and Exchange Commission; (8) the resources committed by the Adviser in recent periods to information technology
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
and cybersecurity; and (9) the ability of the Adviser to attract and retain quality professional personnel to perform investment advisory and administrative services for the Fund.
The Board considered the fact that the Adviser is managing other investment products, including exchange-traded funds, private funds, separate accounts and UCITSs, one or more of which may invest in the same financial markets and may be managed by the same investment professionals according to a similar investment objective and/or strategy as the Fund. The Board concluded that the management of these products contributes to the Adviser’s financial stability and is helpful to the Adviser in attracting and retaining quality portfolio management personnel for the Fund. In addition, the Board concluded that the Adviser has established appropriate procedures to monitor conflicts of interest involving the management of the Fund and the other products and for resolving any such conflicts of interest in a fair and equitable manner.
The performance data and the advisory fee and expense ratio data described below for the Fund is based on data for a representative class of shares of the Fund. The performance data is net of expenses for periods on an annualized basis ended March 31, 2018, and the advisory fee and expense ratio data is as of the Fund’s fiscal year end of December 31, 2017.
Performance. The Board noted, based on a review of comparative annualized total returns, that the Fund had outperformed its Peer Group and Category medians for the one- and three-year periods. The Board also noted that the Fund had outperformed its benchmark index for the three-year period, but had underperformed its benchmark index for the one-year period. The Board concluded that the performance of the Fund was satisfactory.
Fees and Expenses. The Board noted that the Fund pays an advisory fee, as well as a separate administrative fee. The Board further noted that the fee rate payable for advisory services was lower than the median advisory fee rates of its Peer Group and Category. The Board also noted that the Fund’s total expense ratio, net of waivers or reimbursements, was lower than the median expense ratios of its Peer Group and Category. The Board also noted that the Management Fee Rate (which includes both advisory and administrative fee rates) was equal to the median Management Fee Rates of its Peer Group and Category. The Board further noted that
the Adviser has agreed to waive fees or pay expenses of the Fund through April 2019 to the extent necessary to prevent the expense ratio of the Fund from exceeding a specified maximum amount (subject to certain exclusions).
On the basis of the foregoing, and in light of the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the Adviser, the Board concluded that the advisory fee rate charged to the Fund is reasonable.
Profitability and Economies of Scale. The Board considered the profits, if any, realized by the Adviser from managing the Fund and other mutual funds in the VanEck Complex and the methodology used to determine such profits. The Board noted that the levels of profitability reported on a fund-by-fund basis varied widely depending on such factors as the size, type of fund and operating history. The Board further noted that, in evaluating the reasonableness of the Adviser’s profits from managing any particular Fund, it would be appropriate to consider the size of the Adviser relative to other firms in the investment management industry and the impact on the Adviser’s profits of the volatility of the markets in which the Fund invests and the volatility of cash flow into and out of the Fund through various market cycles. Based on its review of the foregoing information, and in light of the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the Adviser, the Board concluded that the profits realized by the Adviser, if any, are deemed not to be excessive. In this regard, the Board also considered the extent to which the Adviser may realize economies of scale, if any, as the Fund grows and whether the Fund’s fee schedule reflects any economies of scale for the benefit of shareholders. The Board concluded that, with respect to the Fund, any economies of scale being realized are currently being shared by the Adviser and the Fund, and that adding or modifying existing (if any) breakpoints would not be warranted at this time for the Fund.
Conclusion. In determining the material factors to be considered in evaluating the Advisory Agreement for the Fund and the weight to be given to such factors, the members of the Board relied upon the advice of independent legal counsel and their own business judgment. The Board did not consider any single factor as controlling in determining whether to approve the continuation of the Advisory Agreement and each member of the Board may have placed varying emphasis on particular factors considered in reaching a conclusion.
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
Moreover, this summary description does not necessarily identify all of the factors considered or conclusions reached by the Board. Based on its consideration of the foregoing factors and conclusions, and such other factors and conclusions as it deemed relevant, the Board (comprised exclusively of Independent Trustees) concluded that the continuation of the Advisory Agreement is in the interests of shareholders and, accordingly, the Board approved the continuation of the Advisory Agreement for the Fund for an additional one-year period.
This report is intended for the Fund’s shareholders. It may not be distributed to prospective investors unless it is preceded or accompanied by the Fund’s prospectus, which includes more complete information. Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Additional information about the VanEck VIP Trust’s (the “Trust”) Board of Trustees/Officers and a description of the policies and procedures the Trust uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities are provided in the Statement of Additional Information. The Statement of Additional Information and information regarding how the Trust voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent twelve month period ending June 30 is available, without charge, by calling 800.826.2333, or by visiting vaneck.com, or on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at https://www.sec.gov.
The Trust files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. The Trust’s Form N-Qs are available on the Commission’s website at https://www.sec.gov and may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 202.942.8090. The Fund’s complete schedule of portfolio holdings is also available by calling 800.826.2333 or by visiting vaneck.com.
 | | |
| | | |
Investment Adviser: | Van Eck Associates Corporation | | |
Distributor: | Van Eck Securities Corporation | | |
| 666 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 | | |
| vaneck.com | | |
Account Assistance: | 800.544.4653 | | VIPGGSAR |
| SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT June 30, 2018 (unaudited) | |
VanEck VIP Trust
VanEck VIP Global Hard Assets Fund
The information contained in this shareholder letter represents the opinion of the investment adviser and may change at any time. This information is not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results or investment advice. Current market conditions may not continue. Also, unless otherwise specifically noted, any discussion of the Fund’s holdings, the Fund’s performance, and the views of the investment adviser are as of June 30, 2018.
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Dear Shareholders:
We are pleased to present this semi-annual report, which affords us the opportunity to provide a review of the economic backdrop for the first half of the year. But first, in light of the many developments that occurred across global markets during the first half of 2018, we want to reemphasize VanEck’s corporate mission and its implications to you as our valued shareholders.
As you may know, VanEck has a history of looking beyond the financial markets to identify historical, political, and/or technological trends that are likely to create or impact investment opportunities. We were one of the first U.S. asset managers to offer investors access to international markets, which set the tone for our drive to identify promising asset classes and trends. In this respect, our unconventional (at the time) efforts to introduce investors to gold investing in 1968, emerging markets (including China) in 1993, and ETFs in 2006, are now considered mainstream, permanently shaping the investment management industry as we now know it.
Today, we offer both active and passive strategies with compelling exposures supported by well-designed investment processes. Our firm’s capabilities range from strategies designed to strengthen core investment allocations to more specialized exposures that enhance portfolio diversification and reduce volatility.
Putting clients’ interests first in all market environments is at the heart of the firm’s mission and has been since our founding in 1955. We will, as always, continue to seek out and evaluate the most attractive opportunities for you as shareholders.
As we wrote in our Market Insights research, which can be found at www.vaneck.com/blogs/market-insights, we began 2018 by noting that global growth had gone from “ticking up” to “firmly in place” and that, while central banks were tightening, Europe remained “two years” behind the U.S. in this trend and had a trickier task. Further, our base case was for 10-year interest rates to rise to 3.5% with the curve not inverting. In its third longest bull market ever, we remained bullish on U.S. equities in the short-term, but were prepared for a correction. And, finally, we believed that investors should not be underweight commodities as global growth was supporting the bullish “grind trade” narrative from supply cutbacks.
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
(unaudited) (continued)
Over the last six months we have seen interest rates in the U.S. rise as expected and, as a consequence, the U.S. dollar has strengthened. These events, along with both inflation fears and concern about trade and tariffs, have resulted not only in an increasingly evident decoupling of the U.S. dollar and emerging markets local currencies, but also significant outflows from emerging markets themselves (in May, for example, outflows were evenly split between equities and debt). From a regional perspective, countries in Latin America and Europe (e.g. Argentina and Turkey) rather than in Asia, have been the primary sources of emerging markets outflows. We still believe that credit exposure in high yield and emerging markets is still better than in governments, which have pure interest rate risk with no offset.
The biggest change in our outlook from six months ago is that global growth appears to be less synchronized—more relevant to the U.S. and China—with Europe uncertain and Africa, South America, and the Middle East struggling. In Europe, for example, economic growth has started to slow and weaker bank balance sheets remain an obstacle to monetary policy normalization. Despite these growing concerns, supply discipline has continued to support the bullish “grind trade” in commodities, with increasing chances of commodities and natural resources ending 2018 as the best performing area of the market.
To keep you informed on an ongoing basis, we encourage you to stay in touch with us through the videos, email subscriptions, and research blogs available on our website, vaneck.com. Should you have any questions regarding fund performance, please contact us at 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com.
We sincerely thank you for investing in VanEck’s investment strategies. On the following pages, you will find financial statements for the Fund for the six-month period ended June 30, 2018. As always, we value your continued confidence in us and look forward to helping you meet your investment goals in the future.
Jan F. van Eck
CEO and President
VanEck VIP Trust
July 17, 2018
Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
EXPLANATION OF EXPENSES
(unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including program fees on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other Fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand the ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period, January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018.
Actual Expenses
The first line in the table below provides information about account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the first line under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During the Period.”
Hypothetical Example for Comparison Purposes
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as fees on purchase payments. Therefore, the second line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning Account Value January 1, 2018 | Ending Account Value June 30, 2018 | Expenses Paid During the Period* January 1, 2018 - June 30, 2018 |
VanEck VIP Global Hard Assets Fund | | | |
Initial Class | | | |
Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 993.70 | $5.44 |
Hypothetical** | $1,000.00 | $1,019.34 | $5.51 |
Class S | | | |
Actual | $1,000.00 | $ 992.10 | $6.67 |
Hypothetical** | $1,000.00 | $1,018.10 | $6.76 |
| |
* | Expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized expense ratio (for the six months ended June 30, 2018), of 1.10% on Initial Class, and 1.35% on Class S Shares, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by the number of days in the most recent fiscal half year divided by the number of the days in the fiscal year (to reflect the one-half year period). |
| |
** | Assumes annual return of 5% before expenses. |
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | | |
COMMON STOCKS: 99.1% |
|
Bermuda: 2.2% |
| 251,400 | | Golar LNG Ltd. (USD) | | $ | 7,406,244 | |
Brazil: 1.9% |
| 486,900 | | Vale SA (ADR) | | | 6,242,058 | |
Canada: 18.7% |
| 210,922 | | Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (USD) | | | 9,666,555 | |
| 323,200 | | Barrick Gold Corp. (USD) | | | 4,243,616 | |
| 1,006,900 | | First Quantum Minerals Ltd. | | | 14,835,624 | |
| 139,300 | | Goldcorp, Inc. (USD) | | | 1,909,803 | |
| 394,500 | | IAMGOLD Corp. (USD) * | | | 2,292,045 | |
| 837,900 | | Kinross Gold Corp. (USD) * | | | 3,150,504 | |
| 490,900 | | New Gold, Inc. (USD) * | | | 1,021,072 | |
| 186,665 | | Nutrien Ltd. (USD) | | | 10,150,843 | |
| 579,600 | | Teck Cominco Ltd. (USD) | | | 14,750,820 | |
| | | | | | 62,020,882 | |
Kuwait: 1.4% |
| 3,890,609 | | Kuwait Energy Plc (GBP) * # § ø ∞ | | | 4,511,227 | |
Luxembourg: 1.1% |
| 104,700 | | Tenaris SA (ADR) | | | 3,810,033 | |
Monaco: 0.5% |
| 542,100 | | Scorpio Tankers, Inc. (USD) | | | 1,523,301 | |
South Africa: 0.6% |
| 2,706,998 | | Petra Diamonds Ltd. (GBP) * # | | | 2,006,054 | |
Switzerland: 5.6% |
| 3,047,065 | | Glencore Plc (GBP) # | | | 14,466,822 | |
| 1,289,700 | | Weatherford International Plc (USD) * | | | 4,243,113 | |
| | | | | | 18,709,935 | |
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | | |
United Kingdom: 4.5% |
| 323,600 | | KAZ Minerals Plc * # | | $ | 3,576,741 | |
| 52,000 | | Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR) | | | 4,008,680 | |
| 130,800 | | Rio Tinto Plc (ADR) | | | 7,256,784 | |
| | | | | | 14,842,205 | |
United States: 62.6% |
| 44,400 | | Bunge Ltd. | | | 3,095,124 | |
| 214,300 | | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | | | 9,514,920 | |
| 88,800 | | Cimarex Energy Co. | | | 9,034,512 | |
| 412,700 | | CNX Resources Corp. * | | | 7,337,806 | |
| 67,850 | | Concho Resources, Inc. * | | | 9,387,047 | |
| 119,900 | | Diamondback Energy, Inc. | | | 15,775,243 | |
| 119,900 | | EOG Resources, Inc. | | | 14,919,157 | |
| 253,800 | | Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. | | | 4,644,540 | |
| 171,800 | | Halliburton Co. | | | 7,741,308 | |
| 82,300 | | Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. | | | 1,625,425 | |
| 61,500 | | Kirby Corp. * | | | 5,141,400 | |
| 267,500 | | Laredo Petroleum, Inc. * | | | 2,573,350 | |
| 112,400 | | Louisiana-Pacific Corp. | | | 3,059,528 | |
| 1,006,600 | | Nabors Industries Ltd. | | | 6,452,306 | |
| 260,850 | | Newfield Exploration Co. * | | | 7,890,712 | |
| 320,500 | | Newmont Mining Corp. | | | 12,086,055 | |
| 25,400 | | Ormat Technologies, Inc. | | | 1,351,026 | |
| 454,000 | | Parsley Energy, Inc. * | | | 13,747,120 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
|
United States: (continued) |
| 431,900 | | Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. | | $ | 7,774,200 | |
| 54,900 | | PBF Energy, Inc. | | | 2,301,957 | |
| 141,500 | | PDC Energy, Inc. * | | | 8,553,675 | |
| 78,200 | | Pioneer Natural Resources Co. | | | 14,798,568 | |
| 340,300 | | ProPetro Holding Corp. * | | | 5,335,904 | |
| 113,900 | | RSP Permian, Inc. * | | | 5,013,878 | |
| 88,000 | | Schlumberger Ltd. | | | 5,898,640 | |
| 146,600 | | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | | | 6,736,270 | |
| 198,500 | | Sunrun, Inc. * | | | 2,610,275 | |
| 386,600 | | Superior Energy Services, Inc. * | | | 3,765,484 | |
| 87,300 | | Tyson Foods, Inc. | | | 6,010,605 | |
| 199,700 | | WPX Energy, Inc. * | | | 3,600,591 | |
| | | | | | 207,776,626 | |
Total Common Stocks (Cost: $273,200,437) | | 328,848,565 | |
| Number of Shares | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | |
MONEY MARKET FUND: 1.2% (Cost: $4,119,154) |
| 4,119,154 | | AIM Treasury Portfolio – Institutional Class | | | 4,119,154 | |
Total Investments: 100.3% (Cost: $277,319,591) | | 332,967,719 | |
Liabilities in excess of other assets: (0.3)% | | (1,086,730 | ) |
NET ASSETS: 100.0% | $ | 331,880,989 | |
Definitions:
ADR | American Depositary Receipt |
GBP | British Pound |
USD | United States Dollar |
Footnotes:
* | Non-income producing |
# | Security has been fair valued in good faith pursuant to guidelines established by the Board of Trustees. The aggregate value of fair valued securities is $24,560,844 which represents 7.4% of net assets. |
§ | Illiquid Security - the aggregate value of illiquid securities is $4,511,227 which represents 1.4% of net assets. |
ø | Restricted Security - the aggregate value of restricted securities is $4,511,227, or 1.4% of net assets. |
∞ | Security is valued using significant unobservable inputs and is classified as Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
(continued)
Restricted securities held by the Fund as of June 30, 2018 are as follows:
Security | | Acquisition Date | | Number of Shares | | Acquisition Cost | | Value | | % of Net Assets |
Kuwait Energy Plc | | 08/06/2008 | | 3,890,609 | | $ | 11,764,893 | | $ | 4,511,227 | | 1.4% |
Summary of Investments by Sector | | | % of Investments | | Value | |
Consumer Staples | | | | 2.7 | % | | $ | 9,105,729 | |
Energy | | | | 53.5 | | | | 178,039,916 | |
Financials | | | | 0.5 | | | | 1,625,425 | |
Industrials | | | | 2.3 | | | | 7,751,675 | |
Materials | | | | 39.4 | | | | 130,974,794 | |
Utilities | | | | 0.4 | | | | 1,351,026 | |
Money Market Fund | | | | 1.2 | | | | 4,119,154 | |
| | | | 100.0 | % | | $ | 332,967,719 | |
The summary of inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of June 30, 2018 is as follows:
| | Level 1 Quoted Prices | | | Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs | | | Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs | | | Value | |
Common Stocks | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Bermuda | | $ | 7,406,244 | | | $ | — | | | $ | — | | | $ | 7,406,244 | |
Brazil | | | 6,242,058 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 6,242,058 | |
Canada | | | 62,020,882 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 62,020,882 | |
Kuwait | | | — | | | | — | | | | 4,511,227 | | | | 4,511,227 | |
Luxembourg | | | 3,810,033 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 3,810,033 | |
Monaco | | | 1,523,301 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 1,523,301 | |
South Africa | | | — | | | | 2,006,054 | | | | — | | | | 2,006,054 | |
Switzerland | | | 4,243,113 | | | | 14,466,822 | | | | — | | | | 18,709,935 | |
United Kingdom | | | 11,265,464 | | | | 3,576,741 | | | | — | | | | 14,842,205 | |
United States | | | 207,776,626 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 207,776,626 | |
Money Market Fund | | | 4,119,154 | | | | — | | | | — | | | | 4,119,154 | |
Total | | $ | 308,406,875 | | | $ | 20,049,617 | | | $ | 4,511,227 | | | $ | 332,967,719 | |
During the period ended June 30, 2018, transfers of securities from Level 1 to Level 2 were $1,792,664. These transfers resulted primarily from changes in certain foreign securities valuation methodologies between the last close of the securities’ primary market (Level 1) and valuation by the pricing service (Level 2), which takes into account market direction or events occurring before the Fund’s pricing time but after the last local close, as described in the Notes to Financial Statements.
See Notes to Financial Statements
The following table reconciles the valuation of the Fund’s Level 3 investment securities and related transactions during the period ended June 30, 2018:
| | Common Stocks |
| | | Kuwait | |
Balance as of December 31, 2017 | | | $ | 4,295,461 | |
Realized gain (loss) | | | — | |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | 215,766 | |
Purchases | | | — | |
Sales | | | — | |
Transfers in and/or out of level 3 | | | — | |
Balance as of June 30, 2018 | | | $ | 4,511,227 | |
The following table presents additional information about valuation methodologies and inputs used for investments that are measured at fair value and categorized within Level 3 as of June 30, 2018:
| | Value as of June 30, 2018 | | Valuation Technique | | Unobservable Input Description(1) | | Unobservable Input | | Impact to Valuation from an Increase in Input(2) |
Common Stocks Kuwait | | $ 4,511,227 | | Guideline Public Companies/ Recent Transaction | | Entitlement Multiple Working Interest Multiple Marketability Discount | | 6.00x-11.00x 0.40x-3.00x 15% | | Increase Increase Decrease |
(1) | In determining certain of these inputs, management evaluates a variety of factors including economic condition, industry and market developments, market valuations of comparable companies and company specific developments. |
(2) | This column represents the directional change in the fair value of the Level 3 investments that would result from an increase to the corresponding unobservable input. A decrease to the unobservable input would have the opposite effect. Significant increases or decreases in these inputs in isolation could result in significantly higher or lower fair value measurements. |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Assets: | | | | |
Investments, at value (Cost $277,319,591) | | $ | 332,967,719 | |
Cash | | | 18,708 | |
Cash denominated in foreign currency, at value (Cost $20) | | | 20 | |
Receivables: | | | | |
Shares of beneficial interest sold | | | 9,304 | |
Dividends | | | 220,240 | |
Prepaid expenses | | | 2,529 | |
Other assets | | | 21,915 | |
Total assets | | | 333,240,435 | |
Liabilities: | | | | |
Payables: | | | | |
Shares of beneficial interest redeemed | | | 791,941 | |
Due to Adviser | | | 275,369 | |
Due to Distributor | | | 30,251 | |
Deferred Trustee fees | | | 129,136 | |
Accrued expenses | | | 132,749 | |
Total liabilities | | | 1,359,446 | |
NET ASSETS | | $ | 331,880,989 | |
Initial Class Shares: | | | | |
Net Assets | | $ | 186,049,674 | |
Shares of beneficial interest outstanding | | | 7,888,131 | |
Net asset value, redemption and offering price per share | | $ | 23.59 | |
Class S Shares: | | | | |
Net Assets | | $ | 145,831,315 | |
Shares of beneficial interest outstanding | | | 6,421,982 | |
Net asset value, redemption and offering price per share | | $ | 22.71 | |
Net Assets consist of: | | | | |
Aggregate paid in capital | | $ | 392,796,230 | |
Net unrealized appreciation | | | 55,647,973 | |
Accumulated net investment loss | | | (134,832 | ) |
Accumulated net realized loss | | | (116,428,382 | ) |
| | $ | 331,880,989 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Income: | | | | | | |
Dividends (net of foreign taxes withheld of $40,853) | | | | | | $ | 2,002,131 | |
Expenses: | | | | | | | | |
Management fees | | $ | 1,703,071 | | | | | |
Distribution fees – Class S Shares | | | 184,452 | | | | | |
Transfer agent fees – Initial Class Shares | | | 16,717 | | | | | |
Transfer agent fees – Class S Shares | | | 12,521 | | | | | |
Custodian fees | | | 8,594 | | | | | |
Professional fees | | | 43,487 | | | | | |
Reports to shareholders | | | 52,909 | | | | | |
Insurance | | | 8,386 | | | | | |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | | | 23,226 | | | | | |
Other | | | 3,977 | | | | | |
Total expenses | | | 2,057,340 | | | | | |
Net investment loss | | | | | | | (55,209 | ) |
Net realized gain (loss) on: | | | | | | | | |
Investments | | | | | | | 2,969,412 | |
Foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities | | | | | | | (1,734 | ) |
Net realized gain | | | | | | | 2,967,678 | |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on: | | | | | | | | |
Investments | | | | | | | (5,784,590 | ) |
Foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities | | | | | | | (155 | ) |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | | | | | (5,784,745 | ) |
Net Decrease in Net Assets Resulting from Operations | | | | | | $ | (2,872,276 | ) |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS
| | Six Months | | | Year Ended | |
| | Ended | | | December 31, | |
| | June 30, 2018 | | | 2017 | |
| | (unaudited) | | | | | |
Operations: | | | | | | | | |
Net investment loss | | $ | (55,209 | ) | | $ | (1,108,394 | ) |
Net realized gain (loss) | | | 2,967,678 | | | | (22,539,669 | ) |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | (5,784,745 | ) | | | 13,856,970 | |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations | | | (2,872,276 | ) | | | (9,791,093 | ) |
Share transactions*: | | | | | | | | |
Proceeds from sale of shares | | | | | | | | |
Initial Class Shares | | | 18,772,922 | | | | 43,574,952 | |
Class S Shares | | | 15,973,300 | | | | 34,097,115 | |
| | | 34,746,222 | | | | 77,672,067 | |
Cost of shares redeemed | | | | | | | | |
Initial Class Shares | | | (31,694,479 | ) | | | (62,510,160 | ) |
Class S Shares | | | (16,600,369 | ) | | | (53,865,685 | ) |
| | | (48,294,848 | ) | | | (116,375,845 | ) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from share transactions | | | (13,548,626 | ) | | | (38,703,778 | ) |
Total decrease in net assets | | | (16,420,902 | ) | | | (48,494,871 | ) |
Net Assets: | | | | | | | | |
Beginning of period | | | 348,301,891 | | | | 396,796,762 | |
End of period (including accumulated net investment loss of ($134,832) and ($79,623), respectively) | | $ | 331,880,989 | | | $ | 348,301,891 | |
* Shares of beneficial interest issued, reinvested and redeemed (unlimited number of $.001 par value shares authorized): | | | | | | | | |
Initial Class Shares: | | | | | | | | |
Shares sold | | | 786,768 | | | | 1,946,391 | |
Shares reinvested | | | — | | | | — | |
Shares redeemed | | | (1,339,757 | ) | | | (2,808,726 | ) |
Net decrease | | | (552,989 | ) | | | (862,335 | ) |
Class S Shares: | | | | | | | | |
Shares sold | | | 692,867 | | | | 1,567,492 | |
Shares reinvested | | | — | | | | — | |
Shares redeemed | | | (733,190 | ) | | | (2,485,128 | ) |
Net decrease | | | (40,323 | ) | | | (917,636 | ) |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
For a share outstanding throughout each period:
| | Initial Class Shares | |
| | For the Six | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Months | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Ended | | | | | | | | | |
| | June 30, | | Year Ended December 31, | |
| | 2018 | | 2017 | | | 2016 | | | 2015 | | | 2014 | | | 2013 | |
| | (unaudited) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net asset value, beginning of period | | | $ | 23.74 | | | $ | 24.14 | | | $ | 16.88 | | | $ | 25.37 | | | $ | 31.39 | | | $ | 29.13 | |
Income from investment operations: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income (loss) | | | | 0.01 | (b)(e) | | | (0.05 | )(b) | | | (0.05 | ) | | | 0.10 | | | | 0.06 | | | | 0.08 | (b) |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments | | | | (0.16 | ) | | | (0.35 | ) | | | 7.39 | | | | (8.58 | ) | | | (6.05 | ) | | | 2.95 | |
Total from investment operations | | | | (0.15 | ) | | | (0.40 | ) | | | 7.34 | | | | (8.48 | ) | | | (5.99 | ) | | | 3.03 | |
Less dividends and distributions from: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | | — | | | | — | | | | (0.08 | ) | | | (0.01 | ) | | | (0.03 | ) | | | (0.20 | ) |
Net realized capital gains | | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | | | | (0.57 | ) |
Total dividends and distributions | | | | — | | | | — | | | | (0.08 | ) | | | (0.01 | ) | | | (0.03 | ) | | | (0.77 | ) |
Net asset value, end of period | | | $ | 23.59 | | | $ | 23.74 | | | $ | 24.14 | | | $ | 16.88 | | | $ | 25.37 | | | $ | 31.39 | |
Total return (a) | | | | (0.63 | )%(c) | | | (1.66 | )% | | | 43.71 | % | | | (33.45 | )% | | | (19.10 | )% | | | 10.53 | % |
Ratios/Supplemental Data | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net assets, end of period (000’s) | | | $ | 186,050 | | | $ | 200,403 | | | $ | 224,612 | | | $ | 176,087 | | | $ | 275,099 | | | $ | 336,763 | |
Ratio of gross expenses to average net assets | | | | 1.10 | %(d) | | | 1.09 | % | | | 1.06 | % | | | 1.05 | % | | | 1.06 | % | | | 1.09 | % |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets | | | | 1.10 | %(d) | | | 1.09 | % | | | 1.06 | % | | | 1.05 | % | | | 1.06 | % | | | 1.09 | % |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets excluding interest expense | | | | 1.10 | %(d) | | | 1.09 | % | | | 1.06 | % | | | 1.05 | % | | | 1.06 | % | | | 1.09 | % |
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets | | | | 0.07 | %(d) | | | (0.21 | )% | | | (0.24 | )% | | | 0.43 | % | | | 0.19 | % | | | 0.27 | % |
Portfolio turnover rate | | | | 8 | %(c) | | | 15 | % | | | 45 | % | | | 21 | % | | | 31 | % | | | 31 | % |
(a) | Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of period, reinvestment of any dividends and distributions at net asset value on the dividend/distribution payment date and a redemption at the net asset value on the last day of the period. The return does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund dividends/distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Total returns do not include fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract and/or life insurance policy. If these amounts were reflected, the returns would be lower than those shown. |
(b) | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
(c) | Not annualized |
(d) | Annualized |
(e) | The amount shown for a share outstanding does not correspond with the aggregate net loss on investments for the period due to the timing of sales and repurchases of shares in relation to fluctuating market values of the investments of the Fund. |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
For a share outstanding throughout each period:
| | Class S Shares | |
| | For the Six | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Months | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Ended | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | June 30, | | Year Ended December 31, | |
| | 2018 | | 2017 | | | 2016 | | | 2015 | | | 2014 | | | 2013 | |
| | (unaudited) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net asset value, beginning of period | | | $ | 22.89 | | | $ | 23.33 | | | $ | 16.35 | | | $ | 24.64 | | | $ | 30.55 | | | $ | 28.38 | |
Income from investment operations: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income (loss) | | | | (0.02 | )(b) | | | (0.10 | )(b) | | | (0.09 | ) | | | 0.04 | | | | (0.02 | ) | | | 0.01 | (b) |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments | | | | (0.16 | ) | | | (0.34 | ) | | | 7.15 | | | | (8.32 | ) | | | (5.89 | ) | | | 2.88 | |
Total from investment operations | | | | (0.18 | ) | | | (0.44 | ) | | | 7.06 | | | | (8.28 | ) | | | (5.91 | ) | | | 2.89 | |
Less dividends and distributions from: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | | — | | | | — | | | | (0.08 | ) | | | (0.01 | ) | | | — | | | | (0.15 | ) |
Net realized capital gains | | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | | | | (0.57 | ) |
Total dividends and distributions | | | | — | | | | — | | | | (0.08 | ) | | | (0.01 | ) | | | — | | | | (0.72 | ) |
Net asset value, end of period | | | $ | 22.71 | | | $ | 22.89 | | | $ | 23.33 | | | $ | 16.35 | | | $ | 24.64 | | | $ | 30.55 | |
Total return (a) | | | | (0.79 | )%(c) | | | (1.89 | )% | | | 43.41 | % | | | (33.62 | )% | | | (19.35 | )% | | | 10.30 | % |
Ratios/Supplemental Data | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net assets, end of period (000’s) | | | $ | 145,831 | | | $ | 147,898 | | | $ | 172,185 | | | $ | 91,635 | | | $ | 118,163 | | | $ | 122,407 | |
Ratio of gross expenses to average net assets | | | | 1.35 | %(d) | | | 1.34 | % | | | 1.30 | % | | | 1.31 | % | | | 1.32 | % | | | 1.34 | % |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets | | | | 1.35 | %(d) | | | 1.34 | % | | | 1.30 | % | | | 1.31 | % | | | 1.32 | % | | | 1.34 | % |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets excluding interest expense | | | | 1.35 | %(d) | | | 1.34 | % | | | 1.30 | % | | | 1.31 | % | | | 1.32 | % | | | 1.34 | % |
Ratio of net investment income (loss) to average net assets | | | | (0.17 | )%(d) | | | (0.47 | )% | | | (0.50 | )% | | | 0.17 | % | | | (0.06 | )% | | | 0.03 | % |
Portfolio turnover rate | | | | 8 | %(c) | | | 15 | % | | | 45 | % | | | 21 | % | | | 31 | % | | | 31 | % |
(a) | Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of period, reinvestment of any dividends and distributions at net asset value on the dividend/distribution payment date and a redemption at the net asset value on the last day of the period. The return does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund dividends/distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Total returns do not include fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract and/or life insurance policy. If these amounts were reflected, the returns would be lower than those shown. |
(b) | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
(c) | Not annualized |
(d) | Annualized |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Note 1—Fund Organization—VanEck VIP Trust (the “Trust”) is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, as an open-end management investment company. The Trust was organized as a Massachusetts business trust on January 7, 1987. The VanEck VIP Global Hard Assets Fund (the “Fund”) is a diversified series of the Trust and seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in hard asset securities. The Fund offers two classes of shares: Initial Class Shares and Class S Shares. The two classes are identical except Class S Shares are subject to a distribution fee.
Note 2—Significant Accounting Policies—The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
The Fund is an investment company and is following accounting and reporting requirements of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 946 Financial Services — Investment Companies.
The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund.
A. | Security Valuation—The Fund values its investments in securities and other assets and liabilities at fair value daily. Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Securities traded on national exchanges or traded on the NASDAQ National Market System are valued at the last sales price reported at the close of each business day. Securities traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market are valued at the NASDAQ official closing price. Over-the-counter securities not included in the NASDAQ National Market System and listed securities for which no sale was reported are valued at the mean of the bid and ask prices. To the extent these securities are actively traded they are categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy (as described below). Certain foreign securities, whose values may be affected by market direction or events occurring before the Fund’s pricing time (4:00 p.m. Eastern Time) but after the last close of the securities’ primary market, are fair valued using a pricing service and are categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy. The pricing service, using methods approved by the Board of Trustees, considers the correlation of the trading patterns of the foreign security to intraday trading in the U.S. market, based on indices of domestic securities and other appropriate indicators such as prices of relevant ADR’s and futures contracts. The Fund may also fair value securities in other situations, such |
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
| as when a particular foreign market is closed but the Fund is open. Short-term debt securities with sixty days or less to maturity are valued at amortized cost, which with accrued interest approximates fair value. Money market fund investments are valued at net asset value and are classified as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. The Pricing Committee of Van Eck Associates Corporation (the “Adviser”) provides oversight of the Fund’s valuation policies and procedures, which are approved by the Fund’s Board of Trustees. Among other things, these procedures allow the Fund to utilize independent pricing services, quotations from securities dealers, and other market sources to determine fair value. The Pricing Committee convenes regularly to review the fair value of financial instruments or other assets. If market quotations for a security or other asset are not readily available, or if the Adviser believes it does not otherwise reflect the fair value of a security or asset, the security or asset will be fair valued by the Pricing Committee in accordance with the Fund’s valuation policies and procedures. The Pricing Committee employs various methods for calibrating the valuation approaches utilized to determine fair value, including a regular review of key inputs and assumptions, periodic comparisons to valuations provided by other independent pricing services, transactional back-testing and disposition analysis. |
| |
| Certain factors such as economic conditions, political events, market trends, the nature of and duration of any restrictions on disposition, trading in similar securities of the issuer or comparable issuers and other security specific information are used to determine the fair value of these securities. Depending on the relative significance of valuation inputs, these securities may be classified either as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The price which the Fund may realize upon sale of an investment may differ materially from the value presented in the Schedule of Investments. |
| |
| The Fund utilizes various methods to measure the fair value of its investments on a recurring basis, which includes a hierarchy that prioritizes inputs to valuation methods used to measure fair value. The fair value hierarchy gives highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). The inputs or methodologies used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities. The transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy assume the financial instruments were transferred at the beginning of the reporting period. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are described below: |
| Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical securities. |
| |
| Level 2 – Significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.). |
| |
| Level 3 – Significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments). |
| A summary of the inputs, the levels used to value the Fund’s investments, and transfers between levels are located in the Schedule of Investments. Additionally, tables that reconcile the valuation of the Fund’s Level 3 investments and that present additional information about valuation methodologies and unobservable inputs, if applicable, are located in the Schedule of Investments. |
B. | Federal Income Taxes—It is the Fund’s policy to comply with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to regulated investment companies and to distribute all of its net investment income to its shareholders. Therefore, no federal income tax provision is required. |
| |
C. | Currency Translation—Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies and commitments under foreign currency contracts are translated into U.S. dollars at the closing prices of such currencies each business day as quoted by one or more sources. Purchases and sales of investments are translated at the exchange rates prevailing when such investments are acquired or sold. Income and expenses are translated at the exchange rates prevailing when accrued. The portion of realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments that result from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates is not separately disclosed. Such amounts are included with the net realized and unrealized gains and losses on investment securities in the Statement of Operations. Recognized gains or losses attributable to foreign currency fluctuations on foreign currency denominated assets, other than investments, and liabilities are recorded as net realized gain (loss) on foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities in the Statement of Operations. |
| |
D. | Dividends and Distributions to Shareholders—Dividends to shareholders from net investment income and distributions from net realized capital gains, if any, are declared and paid annually. Income dividends and capital gain distributions are determined in accordance with U.S. income tax regulations, which may differ from such amounts determined in accordance with GAAP. |
| |
E. | Restricted Securities—The Fund may invest in securities that are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale. These securities generally may be resold in transactions exempt from registration or to the public if the |
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
| securities are registered. Disposal of these securities may involve time-consuming negotiations and expense, and prompt sale at an acceptable price may be difficult. Information regarding restricted securities, if any, is included at the end of the Fund’s Schedule of Investments. |
| |
F. | Use of Derivative Instruments—The Fund may make investments in derivative instruments, including, but not limited to, options, futures, swaps and other derivatives relating to foreign currency transactions. A derivative is an instrument whose value is derived from underlying assets, indices, reference rates or a combination of these factors. Derivative instruments may be privately negotiated contracts (often referred to as over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives) or they may be listed and traded on an exchange. Derivative contracts may involve future commitments to purchase or sell financial instruments or commodities at specified terms on a specified date, or to exchange interest payment streams or currencies based on a notional or contractual amount. Derivative instruments may involve a high degree of financial risk. The use of derivative instruments also involves the risk of loss if the investment adviser is incorrect in its expectation of the timing or level of fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency prices. Investments in derivative instruments also include the risk of default by the counterparty, the risk that the investment may not be liquid and the risk that a small movement in the price of the underlying security or benchmark may result in a disproportionately large movement, unfavorable or favorable, in the price of the derivative instrument. The Fund held no derivative instruments during the period ended June 30, 2018. |
| |
G. | Other—Security transactions are accounted for on trade date. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date except that certain dividends from foreign securities are recognized upon notification of the ex-dividend date. Interest income, including amortization of premiums and discounts, is accrued as earned. Realized gains and losses are calculated on the specific identified cost basis. |
| |
| Income, expenses (excluding class-specific expenses), and realized and unrealized gains (losses) are allocated proportionately to each class of shares based upon the relative net asset value of outstanding shares of each class at the beginning of the day (after adjusting for current capital share activity of the respective classes). Class-specific expenses are charged directly to the applicable class of shares. |
| |
| In the normal course of business, the Fund enters into contracts that contain a variety of general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these agreements is unknown as this would involve future claims that may |
| be made against the Fund that have not yet occurred. However, the Adviser believes the risk of loss under these arrangements to be remote. |
Note 3—Investment Management and Other Agreements—The Adviser is the investment adviser to the Fund. The Adviser receives a management fee, calculated daily and payable monthly based on an annual rate of 1.00% of the first $500 million of average daily net assets, 0.90% of the next $250 million of average daily net assets and 0.70% of the average daily net assets in excess of $750 million. The Adviser has agreed, until at least May 1, 2019, to waive management fees and assume expenses to prevent the Fund’s total annual operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, interest expense, trading expenses, dividend and interest payments on securities sold short, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 1.20% and 1.45% of average daily net assets for Initial Class Shares and Class S Shares, respectively.
In addition, Van Eck Securities Corporation (the “Distributor”), an affiliate of the Adviser, acts as the Fund’s distributor. Certain officers and trustees of the Trust are officers, directors or stockholders of the Adviser and Distributor.
Note 4—12b-1 Plan of Distribution—The Trust and the Distributor are parties to a distribution agreement dated May 1, 2006. The Fund has adopted a Distribution Plan (the “Plan”) for Class S Shares in accordance with Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act. Pursuant to the Plan, the Fund is authorized to incur distribution expenses for its Class S Shares which will principally be payments to securities dealers who have sold shares and serviced shareholder accounts, and payments to the Distributor for reimbursement of other actual promotion and distribution expenses incurred by the Distributor on behalf of the Fund. The amount paid in any one year is 0.25% of average daily net assets for Class S Shares.
Note 5—Investments—For the period ended June 30, 2018, the cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of investments, excluding U.S. government securities and short-term obligations, aggregated to $25,562,477 and $38,166,295, respectively.
Note 6—Income Taxes—At June 30, 2018, for Federal income tax purposes, the identified cost of investments owned, net unrealized appreciation (depreciation), gross unrealized appreciation, and gross unrealized depreciation of investments were as follows:
Cost of Investments | | Gross Unrealized Appreciation | | Gross Unrealized Depreciation | | Net Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation) |
$ 289,407,007 | | $87,559,609 | | $(43,998,897) | | $43,560,712 |
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
There were no distributions paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2017.
At December 31, 2017, the Fund had capital loss carryforwards available to offset future capital gains as follows:
Short-Term Capital Losses with No Expiration | | Long-Term Capital Losses with No Expiration | | Total |
$(9,245,625) | | $(97,971,882) | | $(107,217,507) |
The Fund recognizes the tax benefits of uncertain tax positions only where the position is “more-likely-than-not” to be sustained assuming examination by applicable tax authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund’s tax positions, and has concluded that no liability for unrecognized tax benefits should be recorded related to uncertain tax positions taken on return filings for all open tax years. The Fund does not have exposure for additional years that might still be open in certain foreign jurisdictions. Therefore, no provision for income tax is required in the Fund’s financial statements.
The Fund recognizes interest and penalties, if any, related to uncertain tax positions as income tax expense in the Statement of Operations. During the period ended June 30, 2018, the Fund did not incur any interest or penalties.
Note 7—Concentration of Risk—The Fund may purchase securities on foreign exchanges. Securities of foreign issuers involve special risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. issuers. These risks include devaluation of currencies, less reliable information about issuers, different securities transaction clearance and settlement practices, and future adverse political and economic developments. These risks are heightened for investments in emerging market countries. Moreover, securities of many foreign issuers and their markets may be less liquid and their prices more volatile than those of comparable U.S. issuers.
The Fund may concentrate its investments in companies which are significantly engaged in the exploration, development, production and distribution of gold and other natural resources such as strategic and other metals, minerals, forest products, oil, natural gas and coal, and by investing in gold bullion and coins. Since the Fund may so concentrate, it may be subject to greater risks and market fluctuations than other more diversified portfolios. The production and marketing of gold and other natural resources may be affected by actions and changes in governments. In addition, gold and natural resources may be cyclical in nature.
At June 30, 2018, the aggregate shareholder accounts of four insurance companies owned approximately 51%, 21%, 6%, and 5% of the Initial Class
Shares and four insurance companies owned approximately 42%, 30%, 12%, and 5% of the Class S Shares.
A more complete description of risks is included in the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information.
Note 8—Trustee Deferred Compensation Plan—The Trust has a Deferred Compensation Plan (the “Deferred Plan”) for Trustees under which the Trustees can elect to defer receipt of their trustee fees until retirement, disability or termination from the Board of Trustees. The fees otherwise payable to the participating Trustees are deemed invested in shares of eligible Funds of the Trust and the VanEck Funds (another registered investment company managed by the Adviser) as directed by the Trustees.
The expense for the Deferred Plan is included in “Trustees’ fees and expenses” on the Statement of Operations. The liability for the Deferred Plan is shown as “Deferred Trustee fees” on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
Note 9—Bank Line of Credit—The Trust participates with VanEck Funds (collectively the “VE/VIP Funds”) in a $30 million committed credit facility (the “Facility”) to be utilized for temporary financing until the settlement of sales or purchases of portfolio securities, the repurchase or redemption of shares of the Fund and other temporary or emergency purposes. The participating VE/VIP Funds have agreed to pay commitment fees, pro rata, based on the unused but available balance. Interest is charged to the VE/VIP Funds at rates based on prevailing market rates in effect at the time of borrowings. During the period ended June 30, 2018, the average daily loan balance during the three day period of which a loan was outstanding amounted to $603,456 and the average interest rate was 2.81%. At June 30, 2018, the Fund had no outstanding borrowings under the Facility.
Note 10—Subsequent Event Review—The Fund has evaluated subsequent events and transactions for potential recognition or disclosure through the date the financial statements were issued.
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
VANECK VIP GLOBAL HARD ASSETS FUND
(the “Fund”)
The Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), provides, in substance, that an investment advisory agreement between a fund and its investment adviser may be entered into only if it is approved, and may continue in effect from year to year after an initial two-year period only if its continuance is approved, at least annually by the fund’s board of trustees, including by a vote of a majority of the trustees who are not “interested persons” of the fund as defined in the 1940 Act (the “Independent Trustees”), cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of considering such approval. On June 12, 2018, the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of VanEck VIP Trust (the “Trust”), which is comprised exclusively of Independent Trustees, voted to approve the continuation of the existing advisory agreement (the “Advisory Agreement”) between the Fund and its investment adviser, Van Eck Associates Corporation (together with its affiliated companies, the “Adviser”). Information regarding the material factors considered and related conclusions reached by the Board in approving the continuation of the Advisory Agreement is set forth below.
In considering the continuation of the Advisory Agreement, the Board reviewed and considered information that had been provided by the Adviser throughout the year at meetings of the Board and its committees, including information requested by the Board and furnished by the Adviser for meetings of the Board held on May 14, 2018 and June 12, 2018 specifically for the purpose of considering the continuation of the Advisory Agreement. The written and oral reports provided to the Board included, among other things, the following:
■ | Information about the overall organization of the Adviser and the Adviser’s short-term and long-term business plans with respect to its mutual fund operations and other lines of business; |
| |
■ | The consolidated financial statements of the Adviser for the past two fiscal years; |
| |
■ | A copy of the Advisory Agreement and descriptions of the services provided by the Adviser thereunder; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the qualifications, education and experience of the investment professionals responsible for portfolio |
| management, investment research and trading activities for the Fund, the structure of their compensation and the resources available to support these activities; |
| |
■ | A report prepared by an independent consultant comparing the Fund’s investment performance (including, where relevant, total returns, standard deviations, Sharpe ratios, information ratios, beta and alpha) with respect to a representative class of shares of the Fund for the one-, three-, five- and ten-year periods (as applicable) ended March 31, 2018 with those of (i) a universe of mutual funds selected by the independent consultant with similar portfolio holding characteristics, share class attributes and other operational characteristics as the Fund (the “Category”), (ii) a subgroup of funds selected from the Category by the independent consultant further limited to approximate more closely the Fund’s investment style, expense structure and asset size (the “Peer Group”), (iii) an appropriate benchmark index and (iv) an additional benchmark index that includes relevant exposures not otherwise reflected in the benchmark index (the “GHA Additional Index”); |
| |
■ | A report prepared by an independent consultant comparing the advisory fees and other expenses of a representative class of shares of the Fund during its fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 with a similar share class of each fund in the (i) Category and (ii) Peer Group; |
| |
■ | An analysis of the profitability of the Adviser with respect to its services for the Fund and the VanEck complex of mutual funds as a whole (the “VanEck Complex”); |
| |
■ | Information regarding other investment products and services offered by the Adviser involving investment objectives and strategies similar to the Fund (“Comparable Products”), including the fees charged by the Adviser for managing the Comparable Products, a description of material differences and similarities in the services provided by the Adviser for the Fund and the Comparable Products, the sizes of the Comparable Products and the identity of the individuals responsible for managing the Comparable Products; |
| |
■ | Information concerning the Adviser’s compliance program, the resources devoted to compliance efforts undertaken by the Adviser on behalf of the Fund, and reports regarding a variety of compliance-related issues; |
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
■ | Information with respect to the Adviser’s brokerage practices, including the Adviser’s processes for monitoring best execution of portfolio transactions and the benefits received by the Adviser from research acquired with soft dollars; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the procedures used by the Adviser in monitoring the valuation of portfolio securities, including the methodologies used in making fair value determinations, and the Adviser’s due diligence process for recommending the selection of pricing vendors and monitoring the quality of the inputs provided by such vendors; |
| |
■ | Information regarding how the Adviser safeguards the confidentiality and integrity of its data and files (both physical and electronic), as well as of any communications with third parties containing Fund and shareholder information, including reports regarding the Adviser’s cybersecurity framework and its implementation, the identification and monitoring of cybersecurity risks (including the risks that arise out of arrangements with third party service providers), the Adviser’s cybersecurity response policy and other initiatives of the Adviser to mitigate cybersecurity risks; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the Adviser’s policies and practices with respect to personal investing by the Adviser and its employees, including reports regarding the administration of the Adviser’s code of ethics and the Adviser’s policy with respect to investments in the Fund by the Adviser’s investment personnel; |
| |
■ | Descriptions of the processes that the Adviser uses to evaluate and monitor the liquidity of fixed-income instruments and information regarding the actions the Adviser has taken with respect to risk management and disclosure matters relating to changing fixed income market conditions; |
| |
■ | Descriptions of sub-transfer agency, omnibus account and other shareholder servicing arrangements for the Fund with intermediaries (collectively, “Servicing Arrangements”), including a description of the services provided by the intermediaries pursuant to such Servicing Arrangements and the payment terms of the Servicing Arrangements, as well as reports regarding the amounts paid pursuant to the Servicing Arrangements and the amounts paid to intermediaries with respect to the Fund by the |
| Adviser pursuant to any revenue sharing arrangements and Servicing Arrangements (to the extent not paid by the Fund); |
| |
■ | Descriptions of other administrative and other non-investment management services provided by the Adviser for the Fund, including the Adviser’s activities in managing relationships with the Fund’s custodian, transfer agent and other service providers; and |
| |
■ | Other information provided by the Adviser in its response to a comprehensive questionnaire prepared by independent legal counsel on behalf of the Independent Trustees. |
In determining whether to approve the continuation of the Advisory Agreement, the Board considered, among other things, the following: (1) the nature, quality, extent and cost of the investment management, administrative and other non-investment management services provided by the Adviser; (2) the nature, quality and extent of the services performed by the Adviser in interfacing with, and monitoring the services performed by, third parties, such as the Fund’s custodian, transfer agent, sub-transfer agents and independent auditor, and the Adviser’s commitment and efforts to review the quality and pricing of third party service providers to the Fund with a view to reducing non-management expenses of the Fund; (3) the terms of the Advisory Agreement and the services performed thereunder; (4) the willingness of the Adviser to reduce the overall expenses of the Fund from time to time, if necessary or appropriate, by means of waiving a portion of its fees or paying expenses of the Fund; (5) the quality of the services, procedures and processes used to determine the value of the Fund’s assets and the actions taken to monitor and test the effectiveness of such services, procedures and processes; (6) the ongoing efforts of, and resources devoted by, the Adviser with respect to the development and implementation of a comprehensive compliance program; (7) the responsiveness of the Adviser to inquiries from, and examinations by, regulatory authorities, including the Securities and Exchange Commission; (8) the resources committed by the Adviser in recent periods to information technology and cybersecurity; and (9) the ability of the Adviser to attract and retain quality professional personnel to perform investment advisory and administrative services for the Fund.
The Board considered the fact that the Adviser is managing other investment products, including exchange-traded funds, private funds, separate accounts and UCITSs, one or more of which may invest in
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
the same financial markets and may be managed by the same investment professionals according to a similar investment objective and/or strategy as the Fund. The Board concluded that the management of these products contributes to the Adviser’s financial stability and is helpful to the Adviser in attracting and retaining quality portfolio management personnel for the Fund. In addition, the Board concluded that the Adviser has established appropriate procedures to monitor conflicts of interest involving the management of the Fund and the other products and for resolving any such conflicts of interest in a fair and equitable manner.
The performance data and the advisory fee and expense ratio data described below for the Fund is based on data for a representative class of shares of the Fund. The performance data is net of expenses for periods on an annualized basis ended March 31, 2018, and the advisory fee and expense ratio data is as of the Fund’s fiscal year end of December 31, 2017.
Performance. The Board noted, based on a review of comparative annualized total returns, that the Fund had underperformed its Category and Peer Group medians over the one-, three- and five-year periods and that the Fund had underperformed its Category median over the ten-year period, but had outperformed its Peer Group median over the ten-year period. The Board also noted that the Fund had underperformed its benchmark index over the one-, three-, five- and ten-year periods. The Board further noted that the Fund had outperformed its GHA Additional Index over the ten-year period, but had underperformed its GHA Additional Index for the one-, three-, and five-year periods. The Board noted that the Fund’s large holdings in the energy sector detracted from Fund performance. On the basis of the foregoing and other relevant information provided in response to inquiries by the Board, the Board concluded that the performance of the Fund was satisfactory.
Fees and Expenses. The Board noted that the advisory fee rate and the total expense ratio, net of waivers or reimbursements, for the Fund were higher than the median advisory fee rates and the median expense ratios for its Category and Peer Group. The Board also noted that the Adviser has agreed to waive fees or pay expenses of the Fund through April 2019 to the extent necessary to prevent the expense ratio of the Fund from exceeding a specified maximum amount (subject to certain exclusions).
On the basis of the foregoing, and in light of the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the Adviser, the Board concluded that the advisory fee rate charged to the Fund is reasonable.
Profitability and Economies of Scale. The Board considered the profits, if any, realized by the Adviser from managing the Fund and other mutual funds in the VanEck Complex and the methodology used to determine such profits. The Board noted that the levels of profitability reported on a fund-by-fund basis varied widely depending on such factors as the size, type of fund and operating history. The Board further noted that, in evaluating the reasonableness of the Adviser’s profits from managing any particular Fund, it would be appropriate to consider the size of the Adviser relative to other firms in the investment management industry and the impact on the Adviser’s profits of the volatility of the markets in which the Fund invests and the volatility of cash flow into and out of the Fund through various market cycles. Based on its review of the foregoing information, and in light of the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the Adviser, the Board concluded that the profits realized by the Adviser, if any, are deemed not to be excessive. In this regard, the Board also considered the extent to which the Adviser may realize economies of scale, if any, as the Fund grows and whether the Fund’s fee schedule reflects any economies of scale for the benefit of shareholders. The Board concluded that, with respect to the Fund, any economies of scale being realized are currently being shared by the Adviser and the Fund, and that adding or modifying existing (if any) breakpoints would not be warranted at this time for the Fund.
Conclusion. In determining the material factors to be considered in evaluating the Advisory Agreement for the Fund and the weight to be given to such factors, the members of the Board relied upon the advice of independent legal counsel and their own business judgment. The Board did not consider any single factor as controlling in determining whether to approve the continuation of the Advisory Agreement and each member of the Board may have placed varying emphasis on particular factors considered in reaching a conclusion. Moreover, this summary description does not necessarily identify all of the factors considered or conclusions reached by the Board. Based on its consideration of the foregoing factors and conclusions, and such other factors and conclusions as it deemed relevant, the
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
Board (comprised exclusively of Independent Trustees) concluded that the continuation of the Advisory Agreement is in the interests of shareholders and, accordingly, the Board approved the continuation of the Advisory Agreement for the Fund for an additional one-year period.
This report is intended for the Fund’s shareholders. It may not be distributed to prospective investors unless it is preceded or accompanied by the Fund’s prospectus, which includes more complete information. Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Additional information about the VanEck VIP Trust’s (the “Trust”) Board of Trustees/Officers and a description of the policies and procedures the Trust uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities are provided in the Statement of Additional Information. The Statement of Additional Information and information regarding how the Trust voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent twelve month period ending June 30 is available, without charge, by calling 800.826.2333, or by visiting vaneck.com, or on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at https://www.sec.gov.
The Trust files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. The Trust’s Form N-Qs are available on the Commission’s website at https://www.sec.gov and may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 202.942.8090. The Fund’s complete schedule of portfolio holdings is also available by calling 800.826.2333 or by visiting vaneck.com.
| | |
Investment Adviser: | Van Eck Associates Corporation | |
Distributor: | Van Eck Securities Corporation | |
| 666 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 | |
| vaneck.com | |
Account Assistance: | 800.544.4653 | VIPGHASAR |
 | SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT June 30, 2018 (unaudited) | |
VanEck VIP Trust
VanEck VIP Unconstrained Emerging Markets Bond Fund
The information contained in this shareholder letter represents the opinion of the investment adviser and may change at any time. This information is not intended to be a forecast of future events, a guarantee of future results or investment advice. Current market conditions may not continue. Also, unless otherwise specifically noted, any discussion of the Fund’s holdings, the Fund’s performance, and the views of the investment adviser are as of June 30, 2018.
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Dear Shareholders:
We are pleased to present this semi-annual report, which affords us the opportunity to provide a review of the economic backdrop for the first half of the year. But first, in light of the many developments that occurred across global markets during the first half of 2018, we want to reemphasize VanEck’s corporate mission and its implications to you as our valued shareholders.
As you may know, VanEck has a history of looking beyond the financial markets to identify historical, political, and/or technological trends that are likely to create or impact investment opportunities. We were one of the first U.S. asset managers to offer investors access to international markets, which set the tone for our drive to identify promising asset classes and trends. In this respect, our unconventional (at the time) efforts to introduce investors to gold investing in 1968, emerging markets (including China) in 1993, and ETFs in 2006, are now considered mainstream, permanently shaping the investment management industry as we now know it.
Today, we offer both active and passive strategies with compelling exposures supported by well-designed investment processes. Our firm’s capabilities range from strategies designed to strengthen core investment allocations to more specialized exposures that enhance portfolio diversification and reduce volatility.
Putting clients’ interests first in all market environments is at the heart of the firm’s mission and has been since our founding in 1955. We will, as always, continue to seek out and evaluate the most attractive opportunities for you as shareholders.
As we wrote in our Market Insights research, which can be found at www.vaneck.com/blogs/market-insights, we began 2018 by noting that global growth had gone from “ticking up” to “firmly in place” and that, while central banks were tightening, Europe remained “two years” behind the U.S. in this trend and had a trickier task. Further, our base case was for 10-year interest rates to rise to 3.5% with the curve not inverting. In its third longest bull market ever, we remained bullish on U.S. equities in the short-term, but were prepared for a correction. And, finally, we believed that investors should not be underweight commodities as global growth was supporting the bullish “grind trade” narrative from supply cutbacks.
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
(unaudited) (continued)
Over the last six months we have seen interest rates in the U.S. rise as expected and, as a consequence, the U.S. dollar has strengthened. These events, along with both inflation fears and concern about trade and tariffs, have resulted not only in an increasingly evident decoupling of the U.S. dollar and emerging markets local currencies, but also significant outflows from emerging markets themselves (in May, for example, outflows were evenly split between equities and debt). From a regional perspective, countries in Latin America and Europe (e.g. Argentina and Turkey) rather than in Asia, have been the primary sources of emerging markets outflows. We still believe that credit exposure in high yield and emerging markets is still better than in governments, which have pure interest rate risk with no offset.
The biggest change in our outlook from six months ago is that global growth appears to be less synchronized—more relevant to the U.S. and China—with Europe uncertain and Africa, South America, and the Middle East struggling. In Europe, for example, economic growth has started to slow and weaker bank balance sheets remain an obstacle to monetary policy normalization. Despite these growing concerns, supply discipline has continued to support the bullish “grind trade” in commodities, with increasing chances of commodities and natural resources ending 2018 as the best performing area of the market.
To keep you informed on an ongoing basis, we encourage you to stay in touch with us through the videos, email subscriptions, and research blogs available on our website, vaneck.com. Should you have any questions regarding fund performance, please contact us at 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com.
We sincerely thank you for investing in VanEck’s investment strategies. On the following pages, you will find financial statements for the Fund for the six-month period ended June 30, 2018. As always, we value your continued confidence in us and look forward to helping you meet your investment goals in the future.

Jan F. van Eck
CEO and President
VanEck VIP Trust
July 17, 2018
Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
EXPLANATION OF EXPENSES
(unaudited)
As a shareholder of the Fund, you incur two types of costs: (1) transaction costs, including program fees on purchase payments; and (2) ongoing costs, including management fees and other Fund expenses. This disclosure is intended to help you understand the ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in the Fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.
The disclosure is based on an investment of $1,000 invested at the beginning of the period and held for the entire period, January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018.
Actual Expenses
The first line in the table below provides information about account values and actual expenses. You may use the information in this line, together with the amount you invested, to estimate the expenses that you paid over the period. Simply divide your account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number in the first line under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During the Period.”
Hypothetical Example for Comparison Purposes
The second line in the table below provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses you paid for the period. You may use this information to compare the ongoing costs of investing in the Fund and other funds. To do so, compare this 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in the shareholder reports of other funds.
Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as fees on purchase payments. Therefore, the second line of the table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.
| Beginning Account Value January 1, 2018 | Ending Account Value June 30, 2018 | Expenses Paid During the Period* January 1, 2018 - June 30, 2018 |
VanEck VIP Unconstrained Emerging Market Bond Fund | | | |
Actual | $ 1,000.00 | $ 941.00 | $ 5.29 |
Hypothetical** | $ 1,000.00 | $ 1,019.34 | $ 5.51 |
* | Expenses are equal to the Fund’s annualized expense ratio (for the six months ended June 30, 2018), of 1.10% multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by the number of days in the most recent fiscal half year divided by the number of the days in the fiscal year (to reflect the one-half year period). |
| |
** | Assumes annual return of 5% before expenses. |
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Principal Amount | | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | | |
CORPORATE BONDS: 45.6% |
Argentina: 4.1% |
USD | 284,000 | | | Cia General de Combustibles SA 9.50%, 11/07/19 (c) Reg S | | $ | 279,740 | |
| | | | Generacion Mediterranea SA | | | | |
| 122,000 | | | 9.63%, 07/27/20 (c) Reg S | | | 121,999 | |
| 32,000 | | | 9.63%, 07/27/20 (c) 144A | | | 32,000 | |
| 131,000 | | | Rio Energy SA / UGEN SA / UENSA SA 6.88%, 02/01/22 (c) 144A | | | 109,385 | |
| 190,000 | | | Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA 6.75%, 05/02/22 (c) 144A | | | 174,800 | |
ARS | 8,438,000 | | | YPF SA 16.50%, 05/09/22 Reg S | | | 222,072 | |
| | | | | | | 939,996 | |
Austria: 1.4% |
USD | 315,000 | | | JBS Investments GmbH 7.75%, 07/30/18 (c) Reg S | | | 321,694 | |
Bermuda: 1.3% |
| 311,000 | | | Geopark, Ltd. 6.50%, 09/21/21 (c) Reg S | | | 299,848 | |
Brazil: 1.4% |
| 441,000 | | | Samarco Mineracao SA 5.75%, 10/24/23 (d) Reg S | | | 324,135 | |
Canada: 2.6% |
| 305,000 | | | First Quantum Minerals Ltd. 7.50%, 04/01/20 (c) Reg S | | | 302,148 | |
| 308,000 | | | Frontera Energy Corp. 9.70%, 06/25/21 (c) 144A | | | 306,460 | |
| | | | | | | 608,608 | |
Cayman Islands: 4.6% |
| 318,000 | | | Agile Group Holdings Ltd. 5.13%, 08/14/20 (c) Reg S | | | 297,912 | |
| 300,000 | | | China Evergrande Group 7.00%, 03/23/20 Reg S | | | 296,398 | |
| 226,842 | | | EP PetroEcuador via Noble Sovereign Funding I Ltd. 7.97% (ICE LIBOR USD 3 Month+5.63%), 09/24/19 (f) Reg S | | | 224,007 | |
| 244,000 | | | NagaCorp. Ltd. 9.38%, 05/21/20 (c) 144A | | | 248,813 | |
| | | | | | | 1,067,130 | |
Chile: 2.0% |
| 459,000 | | | Enel Chile SA 4.88%, 06/12/28 | | | 462,947 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
Principal Amount | | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | | |
Colombia: 2.6% |
| 272,000 | | | Colombia Telecomunicaciones SA ESP 8.50% (USD Swap Semi 30/360 5 Year+6.96%), 03/30/20 (c) Reg S | | $ | 284,920 | |
| 312,000 | | | Credivalores-Crediservicios SAS 9.75%, 07/27/20 (c) 144A | | | 307,320 | |
| | | | | | | 592,240 | |
Indonesia: 1.2% |
| 282,000 | | | Bukit Makmur Mandiri Utama PT 7.75%, 02/13/20 (c) Reg S | | | 274,154 | |
| 22,633 | | | Bumi Resources Tbk PT 0.00%, 12/11/22 ^ # (b) * | | | 8,261 | |
| | | | | | | 282,415 | |
Ireland: 1.4% |
| 327,000 | | | Eurotorg LLC Via Bonitron DAC 8.75%, 10/30/22 144A | | | 327,006 | |
Luxembourg: 3.4% |
| 279,000 | | | CSN Resources SA 6.50%, 07/21/20 Reg S | | | 261,214 | |
| 213,000 | | | MHP Lux SA 6.95%, 04/03/26 144A | | | 199,893 | |
| 328,000 | | | Topaz Marine SA 9.13%, 07/26/19 (c) 144A | | | 332,431 | |
| | | | | | | 793,538 | |
Malaysia: 1.1% |
MYR | 993,000 | | | Country Garden Real Estate Sdn Bhd 6.60%, 02/23/23 | | | 245,586 | |
Mauritius: 0.9% |
USD | 209,000 | | | HTA Group Ltd. 9.13%, 03/08/19 (c) Reg S | | | 200,640 | |
Mexico: 0.0% |
| 120,000 | | | Corp. GEO SAB de CV 9.25%, 08/13/18 (c) (d) * | | | 30 | |
Mongolia: 3.8% |
| 824,000 | | | Trade & Development Bank of Mongolia LLC 9.38%, 05/19/20 Reg S | | | 871,063 | |
Netherlands: 1.7% |
| 301,000 | | | Marfrig Holdings Europe BV 8.00%, 06/08/19 (c) Reg S | | | 305,891 | |
| 102,000 | | | Metinvest BV 7.75%, 01/23/23 (c) 144A | | | 95,936 | |
| | | | | | | 401,827 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
Principal Amount | | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | | |
Nigeria: 1.0% |
| 246,000 | | | SEPLAT Petroleum Development Co. Plc 9.25%, 04/01/20 (c) 144A | | $ | 241,080 | |
Panama: 0.8% |
| 191,000 | | | AES El Salvador Trust II 6.75%, 07/30/18 (c) Reg S | | | 177,573 | |
Peru: 2.9% |
| 118,000 | | | Cia Minera Milpo SAA 4.63%, 03/28/23 Reg S | | | 116,820 | |
| 122,000 | | | Hunt Oil Co. of Peru LLC 6.38%, 06/01/28 144A | | | 124,592 | |
| 330,000 | | | Kallpa Generacion SA 4.13%, 05/16/27 (c) Reg S | | | 301,125 | |
| 111,000 | | | Minsur SA 6.25%, 02/07/24 Reg S | | | 116,550 | |
| | | | | | | 659,087 | |
Singapore: 2.2% |
| | | | Eterna Capital Pte Ltd. | | | | |
| 29,427 | | | 6.00% 07/30/18 (c) Reg S | | | 29,611 | |
| 219,799 | | | 8.00% 07/30/18 (c) | | | 210,911 | |
| 256,000 | | | Indika Energy Capital III Pte Ltd. 5.88%, 11/09/21 (c) Reg S | | | 228,461 | |
| 67,000 | | | Innovate Capital Pte Ltd. 6.00% 07/30/18 (c) | | | 44,898 | |
| | | | | | | 513,881 | |
South Africa: 0.3% |
ZAR | 6,050,000 | | | Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. 0.00%, 12/31/32 (a) ^ | | | 68,520 | |
Ukraine: 0.5% |
USD | 123,000 | | | Kernel Holding SA 8.75%, 01/31/22 Reg S | | | 121,250 | |
United Kingdom: 3.3% |
| 257,620 | | | DTEK Finance Plc 10.75% 07/30/18 (c) | | | 266,281 | |
| 341,000 | | | Petra Diamonds US$ Treasury Plc 7.25%, 05/01/19 (c) Reg S | | | 329,491 | |
| 182,000 | | | Tullow Oil Plc 7.00%, 03/01/21 (c) 144A | | | 172,445 | |
| | | | | | | 768,217 | |
United States: 1.1% |
| 269,000 | | | CNOOC Finance 2015 USA LLC 3.50%, 05/05/25 | | | 259,691 | |
Total Corporate Bonds (Cost: $10,818,066) | | | 10,548,002 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
Principal Amount | | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | | |
FOREIGN GOVERNMENT OBLIGATIONS: 50.0% |
Angola: 3.3% |
| | | | Angolan Government International Bonds | | | | |
| 512,000 | | | 9.38%, 05/08/48 144A | | $ | 518,347 | |
| 231,000 | | | 9.50%, 11/12/25 Reg S | | | 252,720 | |
| | | | | | | 771,067 | |
Argentina: 8.3% |
| | | | Argentine Republic Government International Bonds | | | | |
| 375,000 | | | 6.88%, 01/11/48 | | | 282,566 | |
| 514,000 | | | 7.63%, 04/22/46 | | | 417,368 | |
ARS | 1,906,000 | | | 40.00% (Argentina Central Bank 7D Repo Reference Rate+.00%), 06/21/20 (f) | | | 68,471 | |
| 7,840,000 | | | Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Argentina 34.86% (Argentina Deposit Rates Badlar Private Banks ARS 30 to 35 Days+3.75%), 02/22/28 (f) | | | 222,402 | |
USD | 267,000 | | | Province of Santa Fe 6.90%, 11/01/27 Reg S | | | 223,839 | |
| | | | Provincia de Buenos Aires | | | | |
| 253,000 | | | 7.88%, 06/15/27 Reg S | | | 222,640 | |
ARS | 8,560,000 | | | 35.19% (Argentina Deposit Rates Badlar Private Banks ARS 30 to 35 Days+3.83%), 05/31/22 (f) | | | 250,125 | |
USD | 255,000 | | | Provincia de la Rioja 9.75%, 02/24/25 Reg S | | | 238,545 | |
| | | | | | | 1,925,956 | |
Armenia: 1.5% |
| 339,000 | | | Republic of Armenia International Bonds 6.00%, 09/30/20 Reg S | | | 347,628 | |
Belarus: 2.4% |
| | | | Republic of Belarus International Bonds | | | | |
| 123,000 | | | 6.20%, 02/28/30 144A | | | 116,648 | |
| 421,000 | | | 6.88%, 02/28/23 Reg S | | | 436,756 | |
| | | | | | | 553,404 | |
Costa Rica: 2.0% |
| | | | Costa Rica Government International Bonds | | | | |
| 245,000 | | | 7.00%, 04/04/44 Reg S | | | 240,100 | |
| 229,000 | | | 7.16%, 03/12/45 Reg S | | | 227,282 | |
| | | | | | | 467,382 | |
Dominican Republic: 3.1% |
| | | | Dominican Republic International Bonds | | | | |
| 368,000 | | | 5.50%, 01/27/25 Reg S | | | 366,094 | |
| 233,000 | | | 5.95%, 01/25/27 Reg S | | | 230,961 | |
DOP | 6,144,000 | | | 8.90%, 02/15/23 144A | | | 125,921 | |
| | | | | | | 722,976 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
Principal Amount | | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | | | |
Ecuador: 2.2% | | | | |
USD | 488,000 | | | Ecuador Government International Bonds 10.50%, 03/24/20 Reg S | | $ | 501,615 | |
Egypt: 1.0% | | | | |
| 262,000 | | | Egypt Government International Bonds 7.90%, 02/21/48 Reg S | | | 239,290 | |
El Salvador: 2.1% | | | | |
| | | | El Salvador Government International Bonds | | | | |
| 245,000 | | | 5.88%, 01/30/25 Reg S | | | 230,273 | |
| 245,000 | | | 7.65%, 06/15/35 Reg S | | | 240,757 | |
| | | | | | | 471,030 | |
Georgia: 1.0% | | | | |
| 221,000 | | | Georgia Government International Bonds 6.88%, 04/12/21 Reg S | | | 235,798 | |
Ghana: 2.1% | | | | |
| | | | Ghana Government International Bonds | | | | |
| 250,000 | | | 7.63%, 05/16/29 144A | | | 244,610 | |
| 248,000 | | | 8.63%, 06/16/49 144A | | | 242,081 | |
| | | | | | | 486,691 | |
Nigeria: 2.9% | | | | |
| | | | Nigeria Government International Bonds | | | | |
| 496,000 | | | 7.63%, 11/28/47 Reg S | | | 453,417 | |
| 229,000 | | | 7.88%, 02/16/32 Reg S | | | 225,235 | |
| | | | | | | 678,652 | |
Poland: 10.1% | | | | |
| | | | Polish Government Bonds | | | | |
PLN | 2,570,000 | | | 1.75%, 07/25/21 | | | 682,424 | |
| 2,734,000 | | | 2.25%, 04/25/22 | | | 731,592 | |
| 2,334,000 | | | 2.50%, 01/25/23 | | | 626,425 | |
| 1,041,000 | | | 4.00%, 10/25/23 | | | 297,947 | |
| | | | | | | 2,338,388 | |
Rwanda: 1.0% | | | | |
USD | 229,000 | | | Rwanda Government International Bonds | | | | |
| | | | 6.63%, 05/02/23 Reg S | | | 228,402 | |
South Korea: 4.7% | | | | |
| | | | Export-Import Bank of Korea | | | | |
| 489,000 | | | 2.88% (ICE LIBOR USD 3 Month+.57%), 06/01/21 (f) | | | 489,059 | |
| 385,000 | | | 3.07% (ICE LIBOR USD 3 Month+.74%), 03/22/23 (f) Reg S | | | 385,601 | |
| 202,000 | | | Korea Development Bank 3.05% (ICE LIBOR USD 3 Month+.72%), 07/06/22 (f) | | | 201,861 | |
| | | | | | | 1,076,521 | |
Uruguay: 1.1% | | | | |
UYU | 8,193,000 | | | Uruguay Monetary Regulation Bill 0.00%, 05/03/19 ^ | | | 241,733 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
Principal Amount | | | | | Value | |
| | | | | | |
Venezuela: 1.2% | | | | |
USD | 316,500 | | | Petroleos de Venezuela SA 8.50%, 10/27/20 (d) * Reg S | | $ | 274,564 | |
Total Foreign Government Obligations (Cost: $12,212,007) | | | 11,561,097 | |
| | | | | | | |
Number of Shares | | | | | | | |
COMMON STOCK: 0.0% | | | | |
Mexico: 0.0% (Cost: $0) | | | | |
MXN | 3,236 | | | Corp. GEO SAB de CV * # | | | 119 | |
MONEY MARKET FUND: 2.7% (Cost: $619,547) | | | | |
| 619,547 | | | AIM Treasury Portfolio – Institutional Class | | | 619,547 | |
Total Investments: 98.3% (Cost: $23,649,620) | | | 22,728,765 | |
Other assets less liabilities: 1.7% | | | 382,991 | |
NET ASSETS: 100.0% | | $ | 23,111,756 | |
Definitions: |
ARS | Argentine Peso |
DOP | Dominican Peso |
MXN | Mexican Peso |
MYR | Malaysian Ringgit |
PLN | Polish Zloty |
USD | United States Dollar |
UYU | Uruguayan Peso |
ZAR | South African Rand |
| |
Footnotes: |
(a) | All or a portion of these securities are segregated for foreign forward currency contracts. |
(b) | Contingent Value Right |
(c) | Callable Security – the redemption date shown is when the security may be redeemed by the issuer |
(d) | Security in default of coupon payment |
(f) | Floating Rate Bond - coupon reflects the rate in effect at the end of the reporting period |
^ | Zero Coupon Bond |
* | Non-income producing |
# | Security has been fair valued in good faith pursuant to guidelines established by the Board of Trustees. The aggregate value of fair valued securities is $8,380 which represents 0.0% of net assets. |
Reg S | Security was purchased pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, which exempts from registration securities offered and sold outside of the United States. Such a security cannot be sold in the United States without either an effective registration statement filed pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, or pursuant to an exemption from registration. |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
144A | Security exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or otherwise restricted. These securities may be resold in transactions exempt from registration, unless otherwise noted, and the value amounted to $3,919,768, or 17.0% of net assets. |
Schedule of Open Forward Foreign Currency Contracts June 30, 2018
Counterparty | | Currency to be sold | | Currency to be purchased | | Settlement Dates | | Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation) |
State Street Bank and Trust Company | | TRY | 1,434,007 | | USD | 307,151 | | 7/2/2018 | | | $ | (5,007 | ) |
State Street Bank and Trust Company | | USD | 221,583 | | BRL | 874,147 | | 7/2/2018 | | | | 3,959 | |
State Street Bank and Trust Company | | USD | 406,014 | | TRY | 1,934,932 | | 7/2/2018 | | | | 15,187 | |
State Street Bank and Trust Company | | BRL | 2,056,881 | | USD | 551,250 | | 7/2/2018 | | | | 20,545 | |
State Street Bank and Trust Company | | TRY | 1,094,247 | | USD | 239,854 | | 7/2/2018 | | | | 1,656 | |
State Street Bank and Trust Company | | USD | 312,232 | | BRL | 1,182,734 | | 7/2/2018 | | | | (7,069 | ) |
State Street Bank and Trust Company | | EUR | 1,988,957 | | USD | 2,319,989 | | 7/18/2018 | | | | (5,206 | ) |
State Street Bank and Trust Company | | MYR | 877,766 | | USD | 218,736 | | 7/20/2018 | | | | 1,522 | |
Net unrealized appreciation on forward foreign currency contracts | | | $ | 25,587 | |
Definitions: |
BRL | Brazilian Real |
EUR | Euro |
MYR | Malaysian Ringgit |
TRY | Turkish Lira |
USD | United States Dollar |
Summary of Investments by Sector | | % of Investments | | Value | |
Basic Materials | | | 8.0 | % | | | $ | 1,820,448 | |
Communications | | | 2.1 | | | | | 485,560 | |
Consumer, Cyclical | | | 2.5 | | | | | 575,819 | |
Consumer, Non-cyclical | | | 4.2 | | | | | 948,728 | |
Energy | | | 13.1 | | | | | 2,974,082 | |
Financial | | | 8.9 | | | | | 2,018,279 | |
Government | | | 50.9 | | | | | 11,561,097 | |
Industrial | | | 2.5 | | | | | 561,041 | |
Utilities | | | 5.1 | | | | | 1,164,164 | |
Money Market Fund | | | 2.7 | | | | | 619,547 | |
| | | 100.0 | % | | | $ | 22,728,765 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
The summary of inputs used to value the Fund’s investments as of June 30, 2018 is as follows:
| | Level 1 Quoted Prices | | | Level 2 Significant Observable Inputs | | | Level 3 Significant Unobservable Inputs | | | Value | |
Common Stocks* | | $ | — | | | $ | 119 | | | | $ | — | | | | $ | 119 | |
Corporate Bonds* | | | — | | | | 10,548,002 | | | | | — | | | | | 10,548,002 | |
Foreign Government Obligations* | | | — | | | | 11,561,097 | | | | | — | | | | | 11,561,097 | |
Money Market Fund | | | 619,547 | | | | — | | | | | — | | | | | 619,547 | |
Total | | $ | 619,547 | | | $ | 22,109,218 | | | | $ | — | | | | $ | 22,728,765 | |
Other Financial Instruments: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Forward Foreign Currency Contracts | | $ | — | | | $ | 25,587 | | | | $ | — | | | | $ | 25,587 | |
* See Schedule of Investments for geographic sector breakouts.
During the period ended June 30, 2018, transfers of securities from Level 1 to Level 2 were $209. These transfers resulted primarily from changes in certain foreign securities valuation methodologies between the last close of the securities’ primary market (Level 1) and valuation by the pricing service (Level 2), which takes into account market direction or events occurring before the Fund’s pricing time but after the last local close, as described in the Notes to Financial Statements
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Assets: | | | | |
Investments, at value (Cost $23,649,620) | | $ | 22,728,765 | |
Cash denominated in foreign currency, at value (Cost $7) | | | 7 | |
Receivables: | | | | |
Investments sold | | | 1,197,082 | |
Shares of beneficial interest sold | | | 28,645 | |
Dividends and interest | | | 377,189 | |
Prepaid expenses | | | 928 | |
Unrealized appreciation on forward foreign currency contracts | | | 25,587 | |
Other assets | | | 2,374 | |
Total assets | | | 24,360,577 | |
Liabilities: | | | | |
Payables: | | | | |
Investments purchased | | | 1,195,976 | |
Shares of beneficial interest redeemed | | | 602 | |
Due to Adviser | | | 10,155 | |
Due to custodian | | | 121 | |
Deferred Trustee fees | | | 10,042 | |
Accrued expenses | | | 31,925 | |
Total liabilities | | | 1,248,821 | |
NET ASSETS | | $ | 23,111,756 | |
Shares of beneficial interest outstanding | | | 2,968,812 | |
Net asset value, redemption and offering price per share | | $ | 7.78 | |
Net Assets consist of: | | | | |
Aggregate paid in capital | | $ | 26,598,832 | |
Net unrealized depreciation | | | (899,606 | ) |
Undistributed net investment income | | | 580,007 | |
Accumulated net realized loss | | | (3,167,477 | ) |
| | $ | 23,111,756 | |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Income: | | | | | | | | |
Dividends | | | | | | $ | 6,339 | |
Interest (net of foreign taxes withheld of $3,437) | | | | | | | 788,473 | |
Total income | | | | | | | 794,812 | |
Expenses: | | | | | | | | |
Management fees | | $ | 127,415 | | | | | |
Transfer agent fees | | | 10,132 | | | | | |
Custodian fees | | | 12,421 | | | | | |
Professional fees | | | 27,653 | | | | | |
Reports to shareholders | | | 15,188 | | | | | |
Insurance | | | 646 | | | | | |
Trustees’ fees and expenses | | | 1,892 | | | | | |
Interest | | | 342 | | | | | |
Other | | | 1,620 | | | | | |
Total expenses | | | 197,309 | | | | | |
Waiver of management fees | | | (56,812 | ) | | | | |
Net expenses | | | | | | | 140,497 | |
Net investment income | | | | | | | 654,315 | |
Net realized gain (loss) on: | | | | | | | | |
Investments | | | | | | | (1,070,531 | ) |
Forward foreign currency contracts | | | | | | | 337,659 | |
Foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities | | | | | | | (25,215 | ) |
Net realized loss | | | | | | | (758,087 | ) |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on: | | | | | | | | |
Investments | | | | | | | (1,384,538 | ) |
Forward foreign currency contracts | | | | | | | 25,587 | |
Foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities | | | | | | | (5,198 | ) |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | | | | | (1,364,149 | ) |
Net Decrease in Net Assets Resulting from Operations | | | | | | $ | (1,467,921 | ) |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS
| | Six Months | | | Year Ended | |
| | Ended | | | December 31, | |
| | June 30, 2018 | | | 2017 | |
| | (unaudited) | | | | |
Operations: | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | $ | 654,315 | | | $ | 1,993,677 | |
Net realized gain (loss) | | | (758,087 | ) | | | 917,329 | |
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) | | | (1,364,149 | ) | | | 321,979 | |
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations | | | (1,467,921 | ) | | | 3,232,985 | |
Dividends to shareholders from: | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | (1,862,609 | ) | | | (641,416 | ) |
Share transactions*: | | | | | | | | |
Proceeds from sale of shares | | | 2,932,499 | | | | 8,489,261 | |
Reinvestment of dividends | | | 1,862,609 | | | | 641,416 | |
Cost of shares redeemed | | | (5,399,167 | ) | | | (11,653,043 | ) |
Net decrease in net assets resulting from share transactions | | | (604,059 | ) | | | (2,522,366 | ) |
Total increase (decrease) in net assets | | | (3,934,589 | ) | | | 69,203 | |
Net Assets: | | | | | | | | |
Beginning of period | | | 27,046,345 | | | | 26,977,142 | |
End of period (including undistributed net investment income of $580,007 and $1,788,301, respectively) | | $ | 23,111,756 | | | $ | 27,046,345 | |
* Shares of beneficial interest issued, reinvested and redeemed (unlimited number of $.001 par value shares authorized): | | | | | | | | |
Shares sold | | | 348,201 | | | | 983,897 | |
Shares reinvested | | | 222,003 | | | | 79,580 | |
Shares redeemed | | | (639,398 | ) | | | (1,348,075 | ) |
Net decrease | | | (69,194 | ) | | | (284,598 | ) |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
For a share outstanding throughout each period:
| | For the Six | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Months | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Ended | | Initial Class Shares | |
| | June 30, | | Year Ended December 31, | |
| | 2018 | | 2017 | | | 2016 | | | 2015 | | | 2014 | | | 2013 | |
| | (unaudited) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net asset value, beginning of period | | $ | 8.90 | | | $ | 8.12 | | | $ | 7.63 | | | $ | 9.33 | | | $ | 10.60 | | | $ | 11.92 | |
Income from investment operations: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | 0.21 | (b) | | | 0.60 | (b) | | | 0.36 | | | | 0.56 | | | | 0.67 | | | | 0.60 | |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments | | | (0.69 | ) | | | 0.37 | | | | 0.13 | | | | (1.70 | ) | | | (0.49 | ) | | | (1.67 | ) |
Total from investment operations | | | (0.48 | ) | | | 0.97 | | | | 0.49 | | | | (1.14 | ) | | | 0.18 | | | | (1.07 | ) |
Less dividends and distributions from: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net investment income | | | (0.64 | ) | | | (0.19 | ) | | | — | | | | (0.56 | ) | | | (0.56 | ) | | | (0.25 | ) |
Net realized capital gains | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | | | | — | | | | (0.89 | ) | | | — | (c) |
Total dividends and distributions | | | (0.64 | ) | | | (0.19 | ) | | | — | | | | (0.56 | ) | | | (1.45 | ) | | | (0.25 | ) |
Net asset value, end of period | | $ | 7.78 | | | $ | 8.90 | | | $ | 8.12 | | | $ | 7.63 | | | $ | 9.33 | | | $ | 10.60 | |
Total return (a) | | | (5.90 | )%(d) | | | 12.24 | % | | | 6.42 | % | | | (13.09 | )% | | | 2.18 | % | | | (9.17 | )% |
Ratios/Supplemental Data | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net assets, end of period (000’s) | | $ | 23,112 | | | $ | 27,046 | | | $ | 26,977 | | | $ | 29,483 | | | $ | 37,026 | | | $ | 39,857 | |
Ratio of gross expenses to average net assets | | | 1.55 | %(e) | | | 1.57 | % | | | 1.34 | % | | | 1.34 | % | | | 1.20 | % | | | 1.43 | % |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets | | | 1.10 | %(e) | | | 1.10 | % | | | 1.10 | % | | | 1.10 | % | | | 1.10 | % | | | 1.10 | % |
Ratio of net expenses to average net assets excluding interest expense | | | 1.10 | %(e) | | | 1.10 | % | | | 1.10 | % | | | 1.10 | % | | | 1.10 | % | | | 1.10 | % |
Ratio of net investment income to average net assets | | | 5.14 | %(e) | | | 7.04 | % | | | 4.06 | % | | | 6.38 | % | | | 6.34 | % | | | 4.87 | % |
Portfolio turnover rate | | | 155 | %(d) | | | 586 | % | | | 595 | % | | | 572 | % | | | 441 | % | | | 483 | % |
(a) | Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of period, reinvestment of any dividends and distributions at net asset value on the dividend/distribution payment date and a redemption at the net asset value on the last day of the period. The return does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund dividends/distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Total returns do not include fees and expenses imposed under your variable annuity contract and/or life insurance policy. If these amounts were reflected, the returns would be lower than those shown. |
(b) | Calculated based upon average shares outstanding |
(c) | Amount represents less than $0.005 per share |
(d) | Not annualized |
(e) | Annualized |
See Notes to Financial Statements
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
Note 1—Fund Organization—VanEck VIP Trust (the “Trust”) is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, as an open-end management investment company. The Trust was organized as a Massachusetts business trust on January 7, 1987. The VanEck VIP Unconstrained Emerging Markets Bond Fund (the “Fund”) is a non-diversified series of the Trust and seeks high total return (income plus capital appreciation) by investing globally, primarily in a variety of debt securities. The Fund currently offers a single class of shares: Initial Class Shares.
Note 2—Significant Accounting Policies—The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
The Fund is an investment company and is following accounting and reporting requirements of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 946 Financial Services — Investment Companies.
The following is a summary of significant accounting policies followed by the Fund.
A. | Security Valuation—The Fund values its investments in securities and other assets and liabilities at fair value daily. Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. Debt securities are valued on the basis of evaluated prices furnished by an independent pricing service approved by the Board of Trustees or provided by securities dealers. The pricing services, using methods approved by the Board of Trustees, may use valuation models or matrix pricing, which consider: (i) yield or price with respect to bonds that are considered comparable in characteristics such as rating, interest rate and maturity date and/or (ii) quotations from bond dealers to determine current value and are categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy (as described below). Short-term obligations with sixty days or less to maturity are valued at amortized cost, which with accrued interest approximates fair value. Money market fund investments are valued at net asset value and are categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. Forward foreign currency contracts are valued at the spot currency rate plus an amount (“points”), which reflects the differences in interest rates between the U.S. and foreign markets and are categorized as Level 2 in the fair value hierarchy. Securities traded on national exchanges or traded on the NASDAQ National Market System are valued at the last sales price as reported at the close of each business day. |
| Securities traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market are valued at the NASDAQ official closing price. Over-the-counter securities not included in the NASDAQ National Market System and listed securities for which no sale was reported are valued at the mean of the bid and ask prices. To the extent these securities are actively traded they are categorized as Level 1 in the fair value hierarchy. The Fund may also fair value securities in other situations, such as, when a particular foreign market is closed but the Fund is open. The Pricing Committee of Van Eck Associates Corporation (the “Adviser”) provides oversight of the Fund’s valuation policies and procedures, which are approved by the Fund’s Board of Trustees. Among other things, these procedures allow the Fund to utilize independent pricing services, quotations from securities dealers, and other market sources to determine fair value. The Pricing Committee convenes regularly to review the fair value of financial instruments or other assets. If market quotations for a security or other asset are not readily available, or if the Adviser believes it does not otherwise reflect the fair value of a security or asset, the security or asset will be fair valued by the Pricing Committee in accordance with the Fund’s valuation policies and procedures. The Pricing Committee employs various methods for calibrating the valuation approaches utilized to determine fair value, including a regular review of key inputs and assumptions, periodic comparisons to valuations provided by other independent pricing services, transactional back-testing and disposition analysis. |
| |
| Certain factors such as economic conditions, political events, market trends, the nature of and duration of any restrictions on disposition, trading in similar securities of the issuer or comparable issuers and other security specific information are used to determine the fair value of these securities. Depending on the relative significance of valuation inputs, these securities may be classified either as Level 2 or Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy. The price which the Fund may realize upon sale of an investment may differ materially from the value presented in the Schedule of Investments. |
| |
| The Fund utilizes various methods to measure the fair value of its investments on a recurring basis, which includes a hierarchy that prioritizes inputs to valuation methods used to measure fair value. The fair value hierarchy gives highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). The inputs or methodologies used for valuing securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities. The transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy assume the financial instruments |
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
| were transferred at the beginning of the reporting period. The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are described below: |
| |
| Level 1 – Quoted prices in active markets for identical securities. |
| |
| Level 2 – Significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.). |
| |
| Level 3 – Significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments). |
| |
| A summary of the inputs, the levels used to value the Fund’s investments, and transfers between levels are located in the Schedule of Investments. Additionally, tables that reconcile the valuation of the Fund’s Level 3 investments and that present additional information about valuation methodologies and unobservable inputs, if applicable, are located in the Schedule of Investments. |
| |
B. | Federal Income Taxes—It is the Fund’s policy to comply with the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code applicable to regulated investment companies and to distribute all of its net investment income to its shareholders. Therefore, no federal income tax provision is required. |
| |
C. | Currency Translation—Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies and commitments under foreign currency contracts are translated into U.S. dollars at the closing prices of such currencies each business day as quoted by one or more sources. Purchases and sales of investments are translated at the exchange rates prevailing when such investments are acquired or sold. Foreign denominated income and expenses are translated at the exchange rates prevailing when accrued. The portion of realized and unrealized gains and losses on investments that result from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates is not separately disclosed in the financial statements. Such amounts are included with the net realized and unrealized gains and losses on investment securities in the Statement of Operations. Recognized gains or losses attributable to foreign currency fluctuations on foreign currency denominated assets, other than investments and forward foreign currency contracts, and liabilities are recorded as net realized gain (loss) on foreign currency transactions and foreign denominated assets and liabilities in the Statement of Operations. The total net realized gains and losses from fluctuations of foreign exchange rates on investments and other foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities are disclosed in Note 5 — Income Taxes. |
| |
D. | Dividends and Distributions to Shareholders—Dividends to shareholders from net investment income and distributions from net realized capital gains, |
| if any, are declared and paid annually. Income dividends and capital gain distributions are determined in accordance with U.S. income tax regulations, which may differ from such amounts determined in accordance with GAAP. |
| |
E. | Use of Derivative Instruments—The Fund may make investments in derivative instruments, including, but not limited to, options, futures, swaps and other derivatives relating to foreign currency transactions. A derivative is an instrument whose value is derived from underlying assets, indices, reference rates or a combination of these factors. Derivative instruments may be privately negotiated contracts (often referred to as over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives) or they may be listed and traded on an exchange. Derivative contracts may involve future commitments to purchase or sell financial instruments or commodities at specified terms on a specified date, or to exchange interest payment streams or currencies based on a notional or contractual amount. Derivative instruments may involve a high degree of financial risk. The use of derivative instruments also involves the risk of loss if the investment adviser is incorrect in its expectation of the timing or level of fluctuations in securities prices, interest rates or currency prices. Investments in derivative instruments also include the risk of default by the counterparty, the risk that the investment may not be liquid and the risk that a small movement in the price of the underlying security or benchmark may result in a disproportionately large movement, unfavorable or favorable, in the price of the derivative instrument. GAAP requires enhanced disclosures about the Fund’s derivative instruments and hedging activities. Details of this disclosure are found below as well as in the Schedule of Investments. |
| Forward Foreign Currency Contracts—The Fund is subject to foreign currency risk in the normal course of pursuing its investment objectives. The Fund may buy and sell forward foreign currency contracts to settle purchases and sales of foreign denominated securities, gain currency exposure or to hedge foreign denominated assets. Realized gains and losses from forward foreign currency contracts, if any, are included in realized gain (loss) on forward foreign currency contracts in the Statement of Operations. The Fund may incur additional risk from investments in forward foreign currency contracts if the counterparty is unable to fulfill its obligation or there are unanticipated movements of the foreign currency relative to the U.S. dollar. The Fund held forward foreign currency contracts for six months during the period ended June 30, 2018 with an average unrealized appreciation of $6,374. Forward foreign currency contracts held at June 30, 2018 are reflected in the Schedule of Open Forward Foreign Currency Contracts. |
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
| At June 30, 2018, the Fund held the following derivative instruments: |
| | | Asset derivatives | |
| | | Foreign currency risk | |
| Forward foreign currency contracts1 | | $ | 25,587 | | |
| | | |
| 1 | Statement of Assets and Liabilities location: Net unrealized appreciation on forward foreign currency contracts |
| The impact of transactions in derivative instruments during the period ended June 30, 2018, was as follows: |
| | | Foreign Currency Risk | |
| Realized gain (loss): | | | | | |
| Forward foreign currency contacts2 | | $ | 337,659 | | |
| Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation): | | | | | |
| Forward foreign currency contracts3 | | | 25,587 | | |
| | | |
| 2 | Statement of Operations location: Net realized gain (loss) on forward foreign currency contracts |
| 3 | Statement of Operations location: Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on forward foreign currency contracts |
F. | Offsetting Assets and Liabilities—In the ordinary course of business, the Fund enters into transactions subject to enforceable master netting or other similar agreements. Generally, the right of setoff in those agreements allows the Fund to set off any exposure to a specific counterparty with any collateral received or delivered to that counterparty based on the terms of the agreements. The Fund may pledge or receive cash and/or securities as collateral for derivative instruments. Collateral, if any, held at June 30, 2018 is presented in the Schedule of Investments. |
| |
| The table below presents both gross and net information about the derivative instruments eligible for offset in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities subject to master netting or similar agreements, as well as financial collateral received or pledged (including cash collateral) as of June 30, 2018. The total amount of collateral reported, if any, is limited to the net amounts of financial assets and liabilities presented in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities for the respective financial instruments. In general, collateral received or pledged exceeds the net amount of the unrealized gain/loss or market value of financial instruments. |
| | | Gross Amount of Recognized Assets | | Gross Amount Offset in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities | | Net Amount of Assets Presented in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities | | Financial Instruments and Collateral Received | | Net Amount |
| Forward foreign currency contracts | | | $ | 42,869 | | | | $ | (17,282 | ) | | | $ | 25,587 | | | | $ | (25,587 | ) | | | $ | — | |
| | | Gross Amount of Recognized Liabilities | | Gross Amount Offset in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities | | Net Amount of Liabilities Presented in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities | | Financial Instruments and Collateral Pledged | | Net Amount |
| Forward foreign currency contracts | | | $ | (17,282 | ) | | | $ | 17,282 | | | | $ | — | | | | $ | — | | | | $ | — | |
G. | Other—Security transactions are accounted for on trade date. Dividend income is recorded on the ex-dividend date. Interest income, including amortization of premiums and discounts, is accrued as earned. Realized gains and losses are calculated on the identified cost basis. Estimated foreign taxes that are expected to be withheld from proceeds at the sale of certain foreign investments are accrued by the Fund and decrease the unrealized gain on investments. |
| |
| In the normal course of business, the Fund enters into contracts that contain a variety of general indemnifications. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these agreements is unknown as this would involve future claims that may be made against the Fund that have not yet occurred. However, the Adviser believes the risk of loss under these arrangements to be remote. |
Note 3—Investment Management and Other Agreements—The Adviser is the investment adviser to the Fund. The Adviser receives a management fee, calculated daily and payable monthly based on an annual rate of 1.00% of the first $500 million of average daily net assets, 0.90% of the next $250 million of average daily net assets and 0.70% of the average daily net assets in excess of $750 million. The Adviser has agreed, until at least May 1, 2019, to waive management fees and assume expenses to prevent the Fund’s total annual operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, interest expense, trading expenses, dividend and interest payments on securities sold short, taxes, and extraordinary expenses) from exceeding 1.10% of the Fund’s average daily net assets. Refer to the Statement of Operations for the amounts waived/assumed by the Adviser for the period ended June 30, 2018.
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
In addition, Van Eck Securities Corporation (the “Distributor”), an affiliate of the Adviser, acts as the Fund’s distributor. Certain officers and trustees of the Trust are officers, directors or stockholders of the Adviser and Distributor.
Note 4—Investments—For the period ended June 30, 2018, the cost of purchases and proceeds from sales of investments, excluding U.S. government securities and short-term obligations, aggregated to $37,259,671 and $37,351,719, respectively.
Note 5—Income Taxes—As of June 30, 2018, for Federal income tax purposes, the identified cost of investments owned, net unrealized appreciation, gross appreciation, and gross appreciation of investments were as follows:
| | Gross | | Gross | | Net Unrealized |
Cost of | | Unrealized | | Unrealized | | Appreciation |
Investments | | Appreciation | | Depreciation | | (Depreciation) |
$ | 23,909,347 | | | $ | 218,402 | | | $ | (1,398,984 | ) | | $ | (1,180,582 | ) |
The tax character of dividends and distributions paid to shareholders during the year ended December 31, 2017 was as follows:
The tax character of current year distributions will be determined at the end of the current fiscal year.
At December 31, 2017, the Fund had capital loss carryforwards available to offset future capital gains as follows:
Short-Term | | Long-Term | | |
Capital Losses | | Capital Losses | | |
With No Expiration | | With No Expiration | | Total |
$ | (2,159,719 | ) | | | $— | | | $ | (2,159,719 | ) |
Realized gains or losses attributable to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates on investments and other foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities result in permanent book to tax differences which may affect the tax character of distributions and undistributed net investment income at the end of the Fund’s fiscal year. For the period January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, the Fund’s net realized losses from foreign currency translations were $584,739.
The Fund recognizes the tax benefits of uncertain tax positions only where the position is “more-likely-than-not” to be sustained assuming examination by applicable tax authorities. Management has analyzed the Fund’s tax positions, and has concluded that no liability for unrecognized tax benefits should be recorded related to uncertain tax positions taken on return filings for all open tax years. The Fund does not have exposure for additional years that might still be open in certain foreign jurisdictions. Therefore, no provision for income
tax is required in the Fund’s financial statements. However, the Fund is subject to foreign taxes on the appreciation in value of certain investments. The Fund provides for such taxes, if any, on both realized and unrealized appreciation.
The Fund recognizes interest and penalties, if any, related to uncertain tax positions as income tax expense in the Statement of Operations. During the period ended June 30, 2018, the Fund did not incur any interest or penalties.
Note 6—Concentration of Risk—The Fund may purchase securities on foreign exchanges. Securities of foreign issuers involve special risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. issuers. These risks include devaluation of currencies, less reliable information about issuers, different security transaction clearance and settlement practices and future adverse political and economic developments. These risks are heightened for investments in emerging markets countries. Moreover, securities of many foreign issuers and their markets may be less liquid and their prices more volatile than those of comparable U.S. issuers. The Fund may invest in debt securities which are rated below investment grade by rating agencies. Such securities involve more risk of default than higher rated securities and are subject to greater price variability.
The Fund may invest directly in the Russian local market. As a result of events involving Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the United States and the European Union (“EU”) have imposed sanctions on certain Russian individuals and companies. These sanctions do not currently impact the Fund. Additional economic sanctions may be imposed or other actions may be taken that may adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Russian-related issuers’ held by the Fund.
At June 30, 2018, the aggregate shareholder accounts of 4 insurance companies owned approximately 50%, 20%, 10%, and 8% of the Fund’s outstanding shares of beneficial interest.
A more complete description of risks is included in the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information.
Note 7—Trustee Deferred Compensation Plan—The Trust has a Deferred Compensation Plan (the “Deferred Plan”) for Trustees under which the Trustees can elect to defer receipt of their trustee fees until retirement, disability or termination from the Board of Trustees. The fees otherwise payable to the participating Trustees are deemed invested in shares of eligible Funds of the Trust and the VanEck Funds (another registered investment company managed by the Adviser) as directed by the Trustees.
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED
EMERGING MARKETS BOND FUND
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(unaudited) (continued)
The expense for the Deferred Plan is included in “Trustees’ fees and expenses” on the Statement of Operations. The liability for the Deferred Plan is shown as “Deferred Trustee fees” on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
Note 8—Bank Line of Credit—The Trust participates with VanEck Funds (collectively the “VE/VIP Funds”) in a $30 million committed credit facility (the “Facility”) to be utilized for temporary financing until the settlement of sales or purchases of portfolio securities, the repurchase or redemption of shares of the Fund and other temporary or emergency purposes. The participating VE/VIP Funds have agreed to pay commitment fees, pro rata, based on the unused but available balance. Interest is charged to the VE/VIP Funds at rates based on prevailing market rates in effect at the time of borrowings. During the period ended June 30, 2018, the average daily loan balance during the three day period of which a loan was outstanding amounted to $603,456 and the average interest rate was 2.81%. At June 30, 2018, the Fund had no outstanding borrowings under the Facility.
Note 9—Recent Accounting Pronouncements—The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued an Accounting Standards Update ASU 2017-08, Receivables—Nonrefundable Fees and Other Costs (Subtopic 310-20): Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities, that shortens the amortization period for certain purchased callable debt securities held at premium to the earliest call date. The new guidance does not change the accounting for purchased callable debt securities held at a discount. The guidance is effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after 15 December 2018, and interim periods within those years. Early adoption is permitted. Management is currently evaluating the potential impact of this new guidance to the financial statements.
Note 10—Subsequent Event Review—The Fund has evaluated subsequent events and transactions for potential recognition or disclosure through the date the financial statements were issued.
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited)
VANECK VIP UNCONSTRAINED EMERGING
MARKETS BOND FUND
(the “Fund”)
The Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), provides, in substance, that an investment advisory agreement between a fund and its investment adviser may be entered into only if it is approved, and may continue in effect from year to year after an initial two-year period only if its continuance is approved, at least annually by the fund’s board of trustees, including by a vote of a majority of the trustees who are not “interested persons” of the fund as defined in the 1940 Act (the “Independent Trustees”), cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of considering such approval. On June 12, 2018, the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of VanEck VIP Trust (the “Trust”), which is comprised exclusively of Independent Trustees, voted to approve the continuation of the existing advisory agreement (the “Advisory Agreement”) between the Fund and its investment adviser, Van Eck Associates Corporation (together with its affiliated companies, the ��Adviser”). Information regarding the material factors considered and related conclusions reached by the Board in approving the continuation of the Advisory Agreement is set forth below.
In considering the continuation of the Advisory Agreement, the Board reviewed and considered information that had been provided by the Adviser throughout the year at meetings of the Board and its committees, including information requested by the Board and furnished by the Adviser for meetings of the Board held on May 14, 2018 and June 12, 2018 specifically for the purpose of considering the continuation of the Advisory Agreement. The written and oral reports provided to the Board included, among other things, the following:
■ | Information about the overall organization of the Adviser and the Adviser’s short-term and long-term business plans with respect to its mutual fund operations and other lines of business; |
| |
■ | The consolidated financial statements of the Adviser for the past two fiscal years; |
| |
■ | A copy of the Advisory Agreement and descriptions of the services provided by the Adviser thereunder; |
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
■ | Information regarding the qualifications, education and experience of the investment professionals responsible for portfolio management, investment research and trading activities for the Fund, the structure of their compensation and the resources available to support these activities; |
| |
■ | A report prepared by an independent consultant comparing the Fund’s investment performance (including, where relevant, total returns, standard deviations, Sharpe ratios, information ratios, beta and alpha) with respect to a representative class of shares of the Fund for the one-, three-, five- and ten-year periods (as applicable) ended March 31, 2018 with those of (i) a universe of mutual funds selected by the independent consultant with similar portfolio holding characteristics, share class attributes and other operational characteristics as the Fund (the “Category”), (ii) a subgroup of funds selected from the Category by the independent consultant further limited to approximate more closely the Fund’s investment style, expense structure and asset size (the “Peer Group”), and (iii) an appropriate benchmark index; |
| |
■ | A report prepared by an independent consultant comparing the advisory fees and other expenses of a representative class of shares of the Fund during its fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 with a similar share class of each fund in the (i) Category and (ii) Peer Group; |
| |
■ | An analysis of the profitability of the Adviser with respect to its services for the Fund and the VanEck complex of mutual funds as a whole (the “VanEck Complex”); |
| |
■ | Information regarding other investment products and services offered by the Adviser involving investment objectives and strategies similar to the Fund (“Comparable Products”), including the fees charged by the Adviser for managing the Comparable Products, a description of material differences and similarities in the services provided by the Adviser for the Fund and the Comparable Products, the sizes of the Comparable Products and the identity of the individuals responsible for managing the Comparable Products; |
| |
■ | Information concerning the Adviser’s compliance program, the resources devoted to compliance efforts undertaken by the Adviser on behalf of the Fund, and reports regarding a variety of compliance-related issues; |
■ | Information with respect to the Adviser’s brokerage practices, including the Adviser’s processes for monitoring best execution of portfolio transactions and the benefits received by the Adviser from research acquired with soft dollars; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the procedures used by the Adviser in monitoring the valuation of portfolio securities, including the methodologies used in making fair value determinations, and the Adviser’s due diligence process for recommending the selection of pricing vendors and monitoring the quality of the inputs provided by such vendors; |
| |
■ | Information regarding how the Adviser safeguards the confidentiality and integrity of its data and files (both physical and electronic), as well as of any communications with third parties containing Fund and shareholder information, including reports regarding the Adviser’s cybersecurity framework and its implementation, the identification and monitoring of cybersecurity risks (including the risks that arise out of arrangements with third party service providers), the Adviser’s cybersecurity response policy and other initiatives of the Adviser to mitigate cybersecurity risks; |
| |
■ | Information regarding the Adviser’s policies and practices with respect to personal investing by the Adviser and its employees, including reports regarding the administration of the Adviser’s code of ethics and the Adviser’s policy with respect to investments in the Fund by the Adviser’s investment personnel; |
| |
■ | Descriptions of the processes that the Adviser uses to evaluate and monitor the liquidity of fixed-income instruments and information regarding the actions the Adviser has taken with respect to risk management and disclosure matters relating to changing fixed income market conditions; |
| |
■ | Descriptions of sub-transfer agency, omnibus account and other shareholder servicing arrangements for the Fund with intermediaries (collectively, “Servicing Arrangements”), including a description of the services provided by the intermediaries pursuant to such Servicing Arrangements and the payment terms of the Servicing Arrangements, as well as reports regarding the amounts paid pursuant to the Servicing Arrangements and the amounts paid to intermediaries with respect to the Fund by the |
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
| Adviser pursuant to any revenue sharing arrangements and Servicing Arrangements (to the extent not paid by the Fund); |
| |
■ | Descriptions of other administrative and other non-investment management services provided by the Adviser for the Fund, including the Adviser’s activities in managing relationships with the Fund’s custodian, transfer agent and other service providers; and |
| |
■ | Other information provided by the Adviser in its response to a comprehensive questionnaire prepared by independent legal counsel on behalf of the Independent Trustees. |
In determining whether to approve the continuation of the Advisory Agreement, the Board considered, among other things, the following: (1) the nature, quality, extent and cost of the investment management, administrative and other non-investment management services provided by the Adviser; (2) the nature, quality and extent of the services performed by the Adviser in interfacing with, and monitoring the services performed by, third parties, such as the Fund’s custodian, transfer agent, sub-transfer agents and independent auditor, and the Adviser’s commitment and efforts to review the quality and pricing of third party service providers to the Fund with a view to reducing non-management expenses of the Fund; (3) the terms of the Advisory Agreement and the services performed thereunder; (4) the willingness of the Adviser to reduce the overall expenses of the Fund from time to time, if necessary or appropriate, by means of waiving a portion of its fees or paying expenses of the Fund; (5) the quality of the services, procedures and processes used to determine the value of the Fund’s assets and the actions taken to monitor and test the effectiveness of such services, procedures and processes; (6) the ongoing efforts of, and resources devoted by, the Adviser with respect to the development and implementation of a comprehensive compliance program; (7) the responsiveness of the Adviser to inquiries from, and examinations by, regulatory authorities, including the Securities and Exchange Commission; (8) the resources committed by the Adviser in recent periods to information technology and cybersecurity; and (9) the ability of the Adviser to attract and retain quality professional personnel to perform investment advisory and administrative services for the Fund.
The Board considered the fact that the Adviser is managing other investment products, including exchange-traded funds, private funds, separate accounts and UCITSs, one or more of which may invest in
the same financial markets and may be managed by the same investment professionals according to a similar investment objective and/or strategy as the Fund. The Board concluded that the management of these products contributes to the Adviser’s financial stability and is helpful to the Adviser in attracting and retaining quality portfolio management personnel for the Fund. In addition, the Board concluded that the Adviser has established appropriate procedures to monitor conflicts of interest involving the management of the Fund and the other products and for resolving any such conflicts of interest in a fair and equitable manner.
The performance data and the advisory fee and expense ratio data described below for the Fund is based on data for a representative class of shares of the Fund. The performance data is net of expenses for periods on an annualized basis ended March 31, 2018, and the advisory fee and expense ratio data is as of the Fund’s fiscal year end of December 31, 2017.
Performance. The Board noted that, at the recommendation of the Adviser and in an effort to enhance the performance and long-term viability of the Fund, the Board had approved material changes to the Fund’s principal investment strategies, which became effective May 1, 2013. The Board further noted that, in light of these changes, the performance of the Fund compared to other similarly managed funds prior to May 1, 2013 was not relevant to the Board’s consideration of the Advisory Agreement. The Board then noted, based on a review of comparative annualized total returns, that the Fund had outperformed its Category and Peer Group medians over the one-year period, but that the Fund underperformed its Category and Peer Group medians over the three- and five-year periods. The Board also noted that the Fund had outperformed its benchmark index over the one-year period, but had underperformed its benchmark index over the three- and five-year periods. The Board noted that actions that had been taken by the Adviser to establish additional risk-control investment guidelines that limit the Fund’s exposure to certain issuer-specific and country-specific risks and acknowledged the recent improvement in the Fund’s performance.
Fees and Expenses. The Board noted that the advisory fee rate and the total expense ratio, net of waivers or reimbursements, for the Fund were higher than the median advisory fee rates and the median expense ratios for its Category and Peer Group. The Board also
VANECK VIP TRUST
APPROVAL OF ADVISORY AGREEMENT
June 30, 2018 (unaudited) (continued)
noted that the Adviser makes use of a complex and unique proprietary strategy for managing the Fund’s portfolio and that the Adviser has agreed to waive fees or pay expenses of the Fund through April 2019 to the extent necessary to prevent the expense ratio of the Fund from exceeding a specified maximum amount (subject to certain exclusions).
On the basis of the foregoing, and in light of the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the Adviser, the Board concluded that the advisory fee rate charged to the Fund is reasonable.
Profitability and Economies of Scale. The Board considered the profits, if any, realized by the Adviser from managing the Fund and other mutual funds in the VanEck Complex and the methodology used to determine such profits. The Board noted that the levels of profitability reported on a fund-by-fund basis varied widely depending on such factors as the size, type of fund and operating history. The Board further noted that, in evaluating the reasonableness of the Adviser’s profits from managing any particular Fund, it would be appropriate to consider the size of the Adviser relative to other firms in the investment management industry and the impact on the Adviser’s profits of the volatility of the markets in which the Fund invests and the volatility of cash flow into and out of the Fund through various market cycles. Based on its review of the foregoing information, and in light of the nature, extent and quality of the services provided by the Adviser, the Board concluded that the profits realized by the Adviser, if any, are deemed not to be excessive. In this regard, the Board also considered the extent to which the Adviser may realize economies of scale, if any, as the Fund grows and whether the Fund’s fee schedule reflects any economies of scale for the benefit of shareholders. The Board concluded that, with respect to the Fund, any economies of scale being realized are currently being shared by the Adviser and the Fund, and that adding or modifying existing (if any) breakpoints would not be warranted at this time for the Fund.
Conclusion. In determining the material factors to be considered in evaluating the Advisory Agreement for the Fund and the weight to be given to such factors, the members of the Board relied upon the advice of independent legal counsel and their own business judgment. The Board did not consider any single factor as controlling in determining whether to approve the continuation of the Advisory Agreement and each member of the Board may have placed varying
emphasis on particular factors considered in reaching a conclusion. Moreover, this summary description does not necessarily identify all of the factors considered or conclusions reached by the Board. Based on its consideration of the foregoing factors and conclusions, and such other factors and conclusions as it deemed relevant, the Board (comprised exclusively of Independent Trustees) concluded that the continuation of the Advisory Agreement is in the interests of shareholders and, accordingly, the Board approved the continuation of the Advisory Agreement for the Fund for an additional one-year period.
This report is intended for the Fund’s shareholders. It may not be distributed to prospective investors unless it is preceded or accompanied by the Fund’s prospectus, which includes more complete information. Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Additional information about the VanEck VIP Trust’s (the “Trust”) Board of Trustees/Officers and a description of the policies and procedures the Trust uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities are provided in the Statement of Additional Information. The Statement of Additional Information and information regarding how the Trust voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent twelve month period ending June 30 is available, without charge, by calling 800.826.2333, or by visiting vaneck.com, or on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at https://www.sec.gov.
The Trust files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. The Trust’s Form N-Qs are available on the Commission’s website at https://www.sec.gov and may be reviewed and copied at the Commission’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 202.942.8090. The Fund’s complete schedule of portfolio holdings is also available by calling 800.826.2333 or by visiting vaneck.com.

Investment Adviser: | Van Eck Associates Corporation | |
Distributor: | Van Eck Securities Corporation | |
| 666 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 | |
| vaneck.com | |
Account Assistance: | 800.544.4653 | VIPUEMBSAR |
Item 2. CODE OF ETHICS.
Not applicable.
Item 3. AUDIT COMMITTEE FINANCIAL EXPERT.
Not applicable.
Item 4. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.
Not applicable.
Item 5. AUDIT COMMITTEE OF LISTED REGISTRANTS.
Not applicable.
Item 6. SCHEDULE OF INVESTMENTS.
Information included in Item 1.
Item 7. DISCLOSURE OF PROXY VOTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR CLOSED-END
MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.
Not applicable.
Item 8. PORTFOLIO MANAGER OF CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES.
Not applicable.
Item 9. PURCHASE OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT
COMPANY AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS.
Not applicable.
Item 10. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS.
Not applicable.
Item 11. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
(a) The registrant's principal executive and principal financial officers, or
persons performing similar functions, have concluded that the registrant's
disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the
Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act") (17 CFR
270.30a-3(c)) are effective, as of a date within 90 days of the filing
date of the report that includes the disclosure required by this paragraph,
based on their evaluation of these controls and procedures required
by Rule 30a-3(b) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR 270.30a-3(b)) and Rules
13a-15(b) or 15d-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
as amended (17 CFR 240.13a-15(b) or 240.15d-15(b)).
(b) There were no changes in the registrant's internal control over financial
reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the 1940 Act (17 CFR
270.30a-3(d)) that occurred during the period covered by this report that
has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
registrant's internal control over financial reporting.
Item 12. DISCLOSURE OF SECURITIES LENDING ACTIVITIES FOR CLOSED-END MANAGEMENT
INVESTMENT COMPANIES.
(a) Not applicable.
(b) Not applicable.
Item 13. EXHIBITS.
(a)(1) Not applicable.
(a)(2) A separate certification for each principal executive officer and
principal financial officer of the registrant as required by Rule 30a-2(a)
under the Act (17 CFR 270.30a-2(a)) is attached as Exhibit 99.CERT.
(b) Certification pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is
furnished as Exhibit 99.906CERT.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the
Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be
signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
(Registrant) VANECK VIP TRUST
By (Signature and Title) /s/ John J. Crimmins, Treasurer & Chief Financial Officer
---------------------------------------------------------
Date September 7, 2018
------------------
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the
Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the
following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the
dates indicated.
By (Signature and Title) /s/ Jan F. van Eck, Chief Executive Officer
--------------------------------------------
Date September 7, 2018
------------------
By (Signature and Title) /s/ John J. Crimmins, Treasurer & Chief Financial Officer
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date September 7, 2018
------------------