First Trust Merger Arbitrage Fund Class A (VARAX)

Fund Assets	1.65B
Expense Ratio	1.98%
Min. Investment	$1,000
Turnover	293.00%
Dividend (ttm)	0.34
Dividend Yield	3.24%
Dividend Growth	39.31%
Payout Frequency	Annual
Ex-Dividend Date	Dec 5, 2025

Previous Close	10.63
YTD Return	3.00%
1-Year Return	3.82%
5-Year Return	20.95%
52-Week Low	10.29
52-Week High	10.90
Beta (5Y)	0.07
Holdings	187
Inception Date	Oct 1, 2015

About VARAX

First Trust Merger Arbitrage Fund Class A is a mutual fund that employs a merger arbitrage strategy, focusing on generating returns that are largely uncorrelated with the broader stock and bond markets. Its primary objective is capital appreciation through event-driven investing, specifically targeting public companies undergoing mergers, acquisitions, or other significant corporate actions. The fund seeks to exploit pricing inefficiencies that typically arise after the announcement of such deals by investing in equity securities and related derivatives of the involved companies. Merger arbitrage, the fund’s core strategy, aims to capture the spread between a target company's current market price and the contractual acquisition price, thus mitigating exposure to general market volatility and offering diversification benefits. This approach has the potential for more stable returns and downside mitigation, especially during periods of market fluctuation. The fund is designed to potentially benefit in rising interest rate environments, as arbitrage spreads may widen with increases in the risk-free rate. First Trust Merger Arbitrage Fund Class A invests across sectors and market capitalizations, reflecting the broad spectrum of corporate activity in the financial markets.

• Fund Family: First Trust
• Category: Event Driven
• Performance Rating: Below Average
• Risk Rating: Low
• Stock Exchange: Nasdaq
• Ticker Symbol: VARAX
• Share Class: Class A Shares
• Index: Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond TR

Performance

VARAX had a total return of 3.82% in the past year, including dividends. Since the fund's inception, the average annual return has been 3.60%.

Other Share Classes

These are alternative share classes of the same fund, from the same provider.

Symbol	Share Class	Expense Ratio
VARBX	Class I Shares	1.75%
VARCX	Class C Shares	2.80%

Top 10 Holdings

56.21% of assets

Name	Symbol	Weight
Taylor Morrison Home Corporation	TMHC	11.29%
Chart Industries, Inc.	GTLS	9.47%
ARC Resources Ltd.	ARX.CN	5.83%
Nuvalent, Inc.	NUVL	5.42%
National Storage Affiliates Trust	NSA	4.82%
MSILF Government Portfolio - Class Institutional	MVRXX	4.46%
Apogee Therapeutics, Inc.	APGE	4.35%
Sila Realty Trust, Inc.	SILA	3.91%
Webster Financial Corporation	WBS	3.40%
Janus Henderson Group PLC	JHG	3.26%

Dividend History

Ex-Dividend	Amount	Pay Date
Dec 5, 2025	$0.60445	Dec 5, 2025
Dec 5, 2024	$0.63186	Dec 5, 2024
Dec 5, 2023	$0.39029	Dec 5, 2023
Dec 5, 2022	$0.08063	Dec 5, 2022
Dec 6, 2021	$0.85751	Dec 6, 2021
Dec 3, 2020	$0.08783	Dec 3, 2020

Data Sources: Tiingo, Twelve Data, and more

Historical data is provided by Tiingo. Delayed stock pricing data is provided by Twelve Data. Several fund data points are also provided by Finnhub.

Last checked:

Oct 16, 2026

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