The Merger Fund
Actively managed U.S. stock fund
As of its 2026 Q2 report, The Merger Fund held 365 positions with $2.53B in net assets. Its ten largest holdings made up 51.4% of the fund. The MERFX share class costs 1.55% a year. Over the 12 months to May 2026, MERFX returned 4.8%, with dividends reinvested. In 2026 Q2 it added 111 new positions and exited 100.
The fund seeks to achieve capital growth by engaging in merger arbitrage.
The fund pursues merger arbitrage by purchasing securities of announced acquisition targets at a discount to their expected value upon deal completion, seeking to profit from the spread between current price and completion value; the subadviser, Westchester Capital Management, LLC, manages day-to-day decisions and may employ hedging strategies including short sales and derivatives to manage issuer-specific risk. Because returns depend on successful completion of the specific transactions in which the fund invests, deal failure or delay directly impairs performance. The fund invests at least 80% of assets in merger-arbitrage securities and may hold significant cash positions between transaction closings.
What you own
| Company | Weight | Value | Shares | Reported price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
GOLDMAN SACHS TRUST | 7.63% | $192.80M | — | — |
6.19% | $156.43M | 762.9K | $205.04 | |
5.92% | $149.65M | 475.7K | $314.59 | |
ENDEAVOR GROUP HOLDINGS INC | 5.68% | $143.53M | 4.7M | $30.28 |
5.45% | $137.86M | 5.2M | $26.66 | |
GOLDMAN SACHS TRUST | 4.82% | $121.76M | — | — |
4.68% | $118.42M | 566.7K | $208.94 | |
4.15% | $104.93M | 1.4M | $76.42 | |
WCEIXVirtus Event Opportunities Trust | 4.15% | $104.79M | 10.0M | $10.45 |
AETUFARC RESOURCES LTD | 2.74% | $69.14M | 3.3M | $21.01 |
Reported price is the fund's own reported value divided by its own reported shares at 2026-06-30 — not a live quote, and not what the fund paid.
The 200 largest of 365 holdings, with the share counts as filed, open with a free account.
What the fund is made of
Percentages are of fund net assets. Rounding, liabilities and short positions can make totals differ from 100%.
| Stocks | 78.41% |
| Cash & short-term | 12.72% |
| Bonds | 3.56% |
| Loans | 0.25% |
| Derivatives | -0.35% |
Look-through blends 1 underlying fund; 0.0% of NAV was not looked through and stays direct-classified.
The outer band is exposure held short — written against the portfolio rather than part of it, which is why it sits outside the ring and why the two are never netted into one figure.
By sector
- International
- 30.3%
- Communication Services
- 14.6%
- Industrials
- 13.3%
- Other
- 13.2%
- 8 other sectors
- 28.6%
- International
- 30.3%
- Communication Services
- 14.6%
- Industrials
- 13.3%
- Other
- 13.2%
- Cash
- 12.6%
- Financials
- 6.7%
- Health Care
- 4.3%
- Consumer Discretionary
- 1.9%
- Information Technology
- 1.7%
- Consumer Staples
- 0.7%
- Utilities
- 0.6%
- Materials
- 0.1%
How it has done
MERFX share class · total returns with dividends reinvested
Volatility over the last 12 months: 1.00%. Past returns are a record, not a forecast.
Jun 2026 has been filed since the trailing figures were struck, so it is not in the table above or the curve — every figure here shares one cut-off, which is what makes them comparable with other funds.
The 2 share classes hold the same portfolio
| Share class | Expense ratio | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | Worst fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.55% | +4.78% | +19.45% | +15.20% | -0.93% | |
| 1.26% | +5.09% | +20.51% | +16.90% | -0.94% |
These classes hold the same portfolio, so the 1.70pp spread over 5 years is the cost difference between them — roughly 0.34pp a year — not a difference in what they own.
Fees & fund details
The Merger Fund is an actively managed U.S. equity fund.
- Asset class
- Equity
- Region
- United States
- Management
- Actively managed
- Fund type
- Open-end fund
- Expense ratio, by class
- 1.26% – 1.55%· MERFX 1.55%
- Portfolio turnover
- 149.00% a year · as of 2026 Q2
Net is what a holder pays after the adviser's contractual waiver; gross is before it. A waiver can expire.
Turnover is how much of the portfolio was replaced in a year.
Classified from what the fund holds, not from its name · 2026 Q2. The summary is a paraphrase of the prospectus; the objective is verbatim.
What changed this quarter
Positions that entered or left the fund since its previous filing. Positions that were only resized are not listed.
111 new· the largest 8
100 exited· the largest 8
Debt profile
What this fund holds — value-weighted across its bond and securitized long positions · as of 2026-06-30
Share of the fund's debt by how its coupon behaves — the fact that decides whether a rate move reaches this portfolio at all.
| Fixed rate | 94.4% |
| Floating rate | 5.6% |
Share of the fund's debt value in each maturity band, shortest first.
| <1y | 5.6% |
| 1-3y | 36.8% |
| 3-5y | 57.6% |
Based on what filers reported; a filer that never reported a flag also reads as none.
Understand how this fund fits with the rest.
Explore shared holdings, compare funds and follow their businesses with your connected AI:
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