MANAGEMENT CONTRACT
THIS AGREEMENT dated as of this [____] day of [____], 2004 between Pioneer
Variable Contracts Trust, a Delaware statutory trust (the "Trust"), on behalf of
Pioneer Growth Opportunities VCT Portfolio (the "Portfolio"), and Pioneer
Investment Management, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "Manager").
WITNESSETH
WHEREAS, the Trust is registered as an open-end management investment
company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"),
and has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") a
registration statement for the purpose of registering its shares for public
offering under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act").
WHEREAS, the parties hereto deem it mutually advantageous that the Manager
should be engaged, subject to the supervision of the Trust's Board of Trustees
and officers, to manage the Trust.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and benefits set
forth herein, the Trust, on behalf of the Portfolio, and the Manager do hereby
agree as follows:
1. The Manager will regularly provide the Portfolio with investment
research, advice and supervision and will furnish continuously an investment
program for the Portfolio, consistent with the investment objectives and
policies of the Portfolio. The Manager will determine from time to time what
securities shall be purchased for the Portfolio, what securities shall be held
or sold by the Portfolio and what portion of the Portfolio's assets shall be
held uninvested as cash, subject always to the provisions of the Trust's
Certificate of Trust, Agreement and Declaration of Trust, By-Laws and its
registration statements under the 1940 Act and under the 1933 Act covering the
Trust's shares, as filed with the Commission, and to the investment objectives,
policies and restrictions of the Portfolio, as each of the same shall be from
time to time in effect, and subject, further, to such policies and instructions
as the Board of Trustees of the Trust may from time to time establish. To carry
out such determinations, the Manager will exercise full discretion and act for
the Portfolio in the same manner and with the same force and effect as the
Portfolio itself might or could do with respect to purchases, sales or other
transactions, as well as with respect to all other things necessary or
incidental to the furtherance or conduct of such purchases, sales or other
transactions.
2. The Manager will, to the extent reasonably required in the conduct of
the business of the Portfolio and upon the Trust's request, furnish to the
Portfolio research, statistical and advisory reports upon the industries,
businesses, corporations or securities as to which such requests shall be made,
whether or not the Portfolio shall at the time have any investment in such
industries, businesses, corporations or securities. The Manager will use its
best efforts in the preparation of such reports and will endeavor to consult the
persons and sources believed by it to have information available with respect to
such industries, businesses, corporations or securities.
3. The Manager will maintain all books and records with respect to the
Portfolio's securities transactions required by subparagraphs (b)(5), (6), (9)
and (10) and paragraph (f) of
Rule 31a-1 under the 1940 Act (other than those records being maintained by the
custodian or transfer agent appointed by the Trust) and preserve such records
for the periods prescribed therefor by Rule 31a-2 under the 1940 Act. The
Manager will also provide to the Board of Trustees such periodic and special
reports as the Board may reasonably request.
4. Except as otherwise provided herein, the Manager, at its own expense,
shall furnish to the Trust office space in the offices of the Manager, or in
such other place as may be agreed upon from time to time, and all necessary
office facilities, equipment and personnel for managing the Portfolio's affairs
and investments, and shall arrange, if desired by the Trust, for members of the
Manager's organization to serve as officers or agents of the Trust.
5. The Manager shall pay directly or reimburse the Trust for: (i) the
compensation (if any) of the Trustees who are "affiliated persons" (as defined
in the 1940 Act) of the Manager and all officers of the Trust as such; and (ii)
all expenses not hereinafter specifically assumed by the Trust where such
expenses are incurred by the Manager or by the Trust in connection with the
management of the affairs of, and the investment and reinvestment of the assets
of, the Portfolio.
6. The Trust, on behalf of the Portfolio, shall assume and shall pay: (i)
charges and expenses for fund accounting, pricing and appraisal services and
related overhead, including, to the extent such services are performed by
personnel of the Manager or its affiliates, office space and facilities, and
personnel compensation, training and benefits; (ii) the charges and expenses of
auditors; (iii) the charges and expenses of any custodian, transfer agent, plan
agent, dividend disbursing agent, registrar or any other agent appointed by the
Trust; (iv) issue and transfer taxes chargeable to the Trust in connection with
securities transactions to which the Trust is a party; (v) insurance premiums,
interest charges, dues and fees for membership in trade associations and all
taxes and corporate fees payable by the Trust to federal, state or other
governmental agencies; (vi) fees and expenses involved in registering and
maintaining registrations of the Trust and/or its shares with federal regulatory
agencies, state or blue sky securities agencies and foreign jurisdictions,
including the preparation of prospectuses and statements of additional
information for filing with such regulatory authorities; (vii) all expenses of
shareholders' and Trustees' meetings and of preparing, printing and distributing
prospectuses, notices, proxy statements and all reports to shareholders and to
governmental agencies; (viii) charges and expenses of legal counsel to the Trust
and the Trustees; (ix) any fees paid by the Trust in accordance with Rule 12b-1
promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the 1940 Act; (x) compensation of
those Trustees of the Trust who are not affiliated with, or "interested persons"
of, the Manager, the Trust (other than as Trustees), Pioneer Investment
Management USA Inc. or Pioneer Funds Distributor, Inc.; (xi) the cost of
preparing and printing share certificates; (xii) interest on borrowed money, if
any; and (xii) any other expense that the Trust, the Manager or any other agent
of the Trust may incur (A) as a result of a change in the law or regulations,
(B) as a result of a mandate from the Board of Trustees with associated costs of
a character generally assumed by similarly structured investment companies or
(C) that is similar to the expenses listed above, and that is approved by the
Board of Trustees (including a majority of the Independent Trustees) as being an
appropriate expense of the Trust.
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7. In addition to the expenses described in Section 6 above, the Trust,
on behalf of the Portfolio, shall pay all brokers' and underwriting commissions
chargeable to the Trust in connection with securities transactions to which the
Portfolio is a party.
8. The Portfolio shall pay to the Manager, as compensation for the
Manager's services and expenses assumed hereunder, a fee at the annual rate of
[____]% of the Portfolio's average daily net assets.
9. The management fee payable hereunder shall be computed daily and paid
monthly in arrears. In the event of termination of this Agreement, the fee
provided in Section 8 shall be computed on the basis of the period ending on the
last business day on which this Agreement is in effect subject to a pro rata
adjustment based on the number of days elapsed in the current month as a
percentage of the total number of days in such month.
10. The Manager may from time to time agree not to impose all or a portion
of its fee otherwise payable hereunder (in advance of the time such fee or a
portion thereof would otherwise accrue) and/or undertake to pay or reimburse the
Portfolio for all or a portion of its expenses not otherwise required to be
borne or reimbursed by the Manager. Any such fee reduction or undertaking may be
discontinued or modified by the Manager at any time.
11. It is understood that the Manager may employ one or more
sub-investment advisers (each a "Subadviser") to provide investment advisory
services to the Portfolio by entering into a written agreement with each such
Subadviser; provided, that any such agreement first shall be approved by the
vote of a majority of the Trustees, including a majority of the Trustees who are
not "interested persons" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust, the Manager
or any such Subadviser, and otherwise approved in accordance with the
requirements of the 1940 Act or an exemption therefrom. The authority given to
the Manager in Sections 1 through 13 hereof may be delegated by it under any
such agreement; provided, that any Subadviser shall be subject to the same
restrictions and limitations on investments and brokerage discretion as the
Manager. The Trust agrees that the Manager shall not be accountable to the Trust
or the Portfolio or the Portfolio's shareholders for any loss or other liability
relating to specific investments directed by any Subadviser, even though the
Manager retains the right to reverse any such investment; provided, however,
that the forgoing shall not in any way limit the Manager's other
responsibilities under this Agreement, including, the supervision of the
Subadviser's compliance with the Portfolio's investment policies and
restrictions.
12. The Manager will not be liable for any error of judgment or mistake of
law or for any loss sustained by reason of the adoption of any investment policy
or the purchase, sale, or retention of any security on the recommendation of the
Manager, whether or not such recommendation shall have been based upon its own
investigation and research or upon investigation and research made by any other
individual, firm or corporation, but nothing contained herein will be construed
to protect the Manager against any liability to the Trust or its shareholders by
reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith or gross negligence in the performance
of its duties or by reason of its reckless disregard of its obligations and
duties under this Agreement.
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13. Nothing in this Agreement will in any way limit or restrict the
Manager or any of its officers, directors, or employees from buying, selling or
trading in any securities for its or their own accounts or other accounts. The
Manager may act as an investment adviser to any other person, firm or
corporation, and may perform management and any other services for any other
person, association, corporation, firm or other entity pursuant to any contract
or otherwise, and take any action or do any thing in connection therewith or
related thereto; and no such performance of management or other services or
taking of any such action or doing of any such thing shall be in any manner
restricted or otherwise affected by any aspect of any relationship of the
Manager to or with the Trust or deemed to violate or give rise to any duty or
obligation of the Manager to the Trust except as otherwise imposed by law. The
Trust recognizes that the Manager, in effecting transactions for its various
accounts, may not always be able to take or liquidate investment positions in
the same security at the same time and at the same price.
14. In connection with purchases or sales of securities for the account of
the Trust, neither the Manager nor any of its directors, officers or employees
will act as a principal or agent or receive any commission except as permitted
by the 1940 Act. The Manager shall arrange for the placing of all orders for the
purchase and sale of securities for the Portfolio's account with brokers or
dealers selected by the Manager. In the selection of such brokers or dealers and
the placing of such orders, the Manager is directed at all times to seek for the
Portfolio the most favorable execution and net price available except as
described herein. It is also understood that it is desirable for the Portfolio
that the Manager have access to supplemental investment and market research and
security and economic analyses provided by brokers who may execute brokerage
transactions at a higher cost to the Portfolio than may result when allocating
brokerage to other brokers on the basis of seeking the most favorable price and
efficient execution. Therefore, the Manager is authorized to place orders for
the purchase and sale of securities for the Portfolio with such brokers, subject
to review by the Trust's Trustees from time to time with respect to the extent
and continuation of this practice. It is understood that the services provided
by such brokers may be useful to the Manager in connection with its or its
affiliates' services to other clients. In addition, subject to the Manager's
obligation to seek the most favorable execution and net price available, the
Manager may consider the sale of the Trust's shares in selecting brokers and
dealers.
15. On occasions when the Manager deems the purchase or sale of a security
to be in the best interest of the Portfolio as well as other clients, the
Manager may, to the extent permitted by applicable laws and regulations,
aggregate the securities to be sold or purchased in order to obtain the best
execution and lower brokerage commissions, if any. In such event, allocation of
the securities so purchased or sold, as well as the expenses incurred in the
transaction, will be made by the Manager in the manner it considers to be the
most equitable and consistent with its fiduciary obligations to the Portfolio
and to such clients.
16. This Agreement shall become effective on the date hereof and shall
remain in force until December 31, 2005 and from year to year thereafter, but
only so long as its continuance is approved in accordance with the requirements
of the 1940 Act or an exemption therefrom, subject to the right of the Trust and
the Manager to terminate this contract as provided in Section 17 hereof.
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17. Either party hereto may, without penalty, terminate this Agreement by
vote of its Board of Trustees or Directors, as the case may be, or by vote of a
"majority of the outstanding voting securities" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of
the Portfolio or the Manager, as the case may be, and the giving of 60 days'
written notice to the other party.
18. This Agreement shall automatically terminate in the event of its
assignment. For purposes of this Agreement, the term "assignment" shall have the
meaning given it by Section 2(a)(4) of the 1940 Act.
19. The Trust agrees that in the event that neither the Manager nor any of
its affiliates acts as an investment adviser to the Portfolio, the name of the
Portfolio will be changed to one that does not contain the name "Pioneer" or
otherwise suggest an affiliation with the Manager.
20. The Manager is an independent contractor and not an employee of the
Trust for any purpose. If any occasion should arise in which the Manager gives
any advice to its clients concerning the shares of the Trust, the Manager will
act solely as investment counsel for such clients and not in any way on behalf
of the Trust.
21. This Agreement states the entire agreement of the parties hereto, and
is intended to be the complete and exclusive statement of the terms hereof. It
may not be added to or changed orally and may not be modified or rescinded
except by a writing signed by the parties hereto and in accordance with the 1940
Act, when applicable.
22. This Agreement and all performance hereunder shall be governed by and
construed in accordance with the laws of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
23. Any term or provision of this Agreement which is invalid or
unenforceable in any jurisdiction shall, as to such jurisdiction, be ineffective
to the extent of such invalidity or unenforceability without rendering invalid
or unenforceable the remaining terms or provisions of this Agreement or
affecting the validity or enforceability of any of the terms or provisions of
this Agreement in any other jurisdiction.
24. This Agreement may be executed simultaneously in two or more
counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which
together shall constitute one and the same instrument.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be
executed by their duly authorized officers and their seal to be hereto affixed
as of the day and year first above written.
PIONEER VARIABLE CONTRACTS
TRUST
ON BEHALF OF
Pioneer Growth Opportunities VCT
Portfolio
ATTEST:
By: __________________________ By: __________________________
Name: Name:
Title: Title:
PIONEER INVESTMENT
MANAGEMENT, INC.
ATTEST:
By: __________________________ By: __________________________
Name: Name:
Title: Title:
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