Mutual Fund Series Trust

11/05/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/05/2024 15:35

Summary Prospectus by Investment Company - Form 497K

Catalyst/SMH High Income Fund

Class A: HIIFX Class C: HIICX Class I: HIIIX

summary PROSPECTUS

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund's complete prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund's prospectus and other information about the Fund at https://catalystmf.com/literature-and-forms/. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-866-447-4228, emailing [email protected] or by asking any financial intermediary that offers shares of the Fund. The Fund's prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated November 1, 2024 are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus and may be obtained, free of charge, at the website or phone number noted above.

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FUND SUMMARY: CATALYST/SMH HIGH INCOME FUND

Investment Objective: The Fund's objective is income with capital appreciation as a secondary objective.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund: This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and Example below. You may qualify for sales charge discounts on purchases of Class A shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and is included in the section of the Fund's prospectus entitled How to Buy Shares on page 100 and Appendix A - Intermediary-Specific Sales Charge Reductions and Waivers, and in the sections of the Fund's Statement of Additional Information entitled Reduction of Up-Front Sales Charge on Class A Shares on page 61 and Waivers of Up-Front Sales Charge on Class A Shares on page 62.

Shareholder Fees

(fees paid directly from your investment)

Class

A

Class

C

Class

I

Maximum Sales Charge

(Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a % of offering price)

4.75% None None

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load)

(as a % of the original purchase price)

1.00%1 None None

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed

on Reinvested Dividends and other Distributions

None None None
Redemption Fee None None None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Management Fees 1.00% 1.00% 1.00%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees 0.25% 1.00% 0.00%
Other Expenses 1.13% 1.13% 1.13%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses2 0.01% 0.01% 0.01%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 2.39% 3.14% 2.14%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement3 (0.90)% (0.90)% (0.90)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement 1.49% 2.24% 1.24%

1 The 1.00% maximum deferred sales charge may be assessed in the case of investments at or above the $1 million breakpoint (where you do not pay an initial sales charge) on shares redeemed within two years of purchase.

2 Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are the indirect costs of investing in other investment companies. The total annual fund operating expenses in his fee table will not correlate to the expense ratio in the Fund's financial highlights because the financial statements include only the direct operating expenses incurred by the Fund, not the indirect costs of investing in other investment companies.

3 The Fund's investment advisor, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC (the "Advisor"), has contractually agreed to waive management fees and/or reimburse expenses of the Fund to the extent necessary to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding brokerage costs; borrowing costs such as (a) interest and (b) dividends on securities sold short; taxes; underlying fund expenses; and extraordinary expenses, such as regulatory inquiry and litigation expenses) at 1.48%, 2.23% and 1.23% for Class A shares, Class C shares and Class I shares, respectively, through October 31, 2025. This agreement may be terminated by the Trust's Board of Trustees only on 60 days' written notice to the Advisor, by the Advisor with the consent of the Board of Trustees, or upon the termination of the investment advisory agreement between the Trust and the Advisor. Fee waivers and expense reimbursements are subject to possible recoupment by the Advisor from the Fund in future years on a rolling three-year basis (within the three years after the fees have been waived or reimbursed) so long as such recoupment does not cause the Fund's expense ratio (after the repayment is taken into account) to exceed the lesser of: (i) the Fund's expense limitation at the time such expenses were waived and (ii) the Fund's current expense limitation at the time of recoupment.

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Example: This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example only accounts for the Fund's expense limitation in place through its expiration period, October 31, 2025, and then depicts the Fund's total annual expenses thereafter. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Year Class A Class C Class I
1 $619 $227 $126
3 $1,103 $884 $583
5 $1,612 $1,567 $1,067
10 $3,006 $3,386 $2,401

Portfolio Turnover: The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. The portfolio turnover rate of the Fund for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 was 33% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies:

The Fund invests in a non-diversified group of low-quality, high yield corporate bonds and convertible securities. The Fund may invest without limitation in non-investment grade corporate bonds rated Baa or lower by Moody's or BBB or lower by S&P (also known as "junk" bonds). The Fund may also invest in corporate issues that have defaulted. Because of their low credit quality, these securities typically pay higher interest rates to compensate investors for the substantial credit risk they assume. While there are no restrictions on maturity, the bonds in the Fund's portfolio generally have an average maturity of less than ten years. The Fund seeks capital appreciation from selling securities above the purchase price. Bonds may appreciate in value through an improvement in credit quality, among other reasons.

To select the securities in which to invest, SMH Capital Advisors, LLC, the Fund's sub-advisor ("Sub-Advisor"), conducts fundamental credit research on each issuer. Securities may be sold when the Sub-Advisor believes that they no longer represent relatively attractive investment opportunities.

The Fund invests primarily in, and chooses its investments from, the following types of securities:

· Corporate debt. Debt obligations (usually called bonds) are loans by an investor to a corporation. They usually have a set interest rate and term.
· Preferred stocks. Preferred stock is corporate stock that pays set dividends to its holders. Preferred stock has a superior claim on the issuer's income and assets relative to common stock but a lower claim on assets than corporate bondholders.
· Convertible securities. Bonds or preferred stocks which are convertible into, or exchangeable for, common stocks.
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In addition, the Fund may also invest in other investment companies to the extent permitted by federal law and any exemptions granted to the Fund by the SEC.

The Fund is classified as "non-diversified" for purposes of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "1940 Act"), which means that it is not limited by the 1940 Act with regard to the portion of its assets that may be invested in the securities of a single issuer.

Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund:

As with any mutual fund, there is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its objective. Investment markets are unpredictable and there will be certain market conditions where the Fund will not meet its investment objective and will lose money. The Fund's net asset value and returns will vary and you could lose money on your investment in the Fund and those losses could be significant.

The following summarizes the principal risks of investing in the Fund. These risks could adversely affect the net asset value, total return and the value of the Fund and your investment.

Convertible Securities Risk. Convertible securities are hybrid securities that have characteristics of both fixed income and equity securities and are subject to risks associated with both fixed income and equity securities. The market value of convertible securities and other debt securities tends to fall when prevailing interest rates rise. The value of convertible securities also tends to change whenever the market value of the underlying common or preferred stock fluctuates.

Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a security will fail to pay principal and interest in a timely manner, reducing the Fund's total return. The Fund may invest in high-yield, high-risk securities, commonly called "junk bonds," that are not investment grade and are generally considered speculative because they present a greater risk of loss, including default, than higher quality debt securities. Credit risk may be substantial for the Fund.

Income Risk. Income risk is the risk that the income from the Fund's portfolio will decline because of falling market interest rates. This can result when the Fund invests the proceeds from new share sales, or from matured or called bonds, at market interest rates that are below the portfolio's current earnings rate.

Interest Rate Risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that bond prices overall, including the prices of securities held by the Fund, will decline over short or even long periods of time due to rising interest rates. Bonds with longer maturities tend to be more sensitive to interest rates than bonds with shorter maturities. For example, if interest rates go up by 1.0%, the price of a 4% coupon bond will decrease by approximately 1.0% for a bond with 1 year to maturity and approximately 4.4% for a bond with 5 years to maturity. Rising interest rates pose a heightened risk to the Fund's longer-term fixed income securities.

Junk Bond Risk. Lower-quality bonds, known as "high yield" or "junk" bonds, present greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased risk of default. An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates could adversely affect the market for

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these bonds and reduce the Fund's ability to sell its bonds. The lack of a liquid market for these bonds could decrease the Fund's share price.

Lower Quality Debt Risk. Lower-quality debt securities and certain types of other securities involve greater risk of default or price changes due to changes in the credit quality of the issuer.

Management Risk. The portfolio managers' judgments about the attractiveness, value and potential appreciation of particular securities in which the Fund invests may prove to be incorrect and there is no guarantee that the portfolio managers' judgment will produce the desired results.

Market Risk. Overall stock or bond market risks may also affect the value of the Fund. Factors such as domestic economic growth and market conditions, interest rate levels and political events affect the securities markets.

Non-diversification Risk. Because a relatively high percentage of the Fund's assets may be invested in the securities of a limited number of companies that could be in the same or related economic sectors, the Fund's portfolio may be more susceptible to any single economic, technological or regulatory occurrence than the portfolio of a diversified fund.

Security Risk. The value of the Fund may decrease in response to the activities and financial prospects of an individual security in the Fund's portfolio. There can be no guarantee the securities held by the Fund will appreciate in value.

Underlying Fund Risk. Because the Fund may invest in other investment companies, including mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds or private funds, the value of your investment will fluctuate in response to the performance of the underlying funds. Investing in underlying funds involves certain additional expenses and certain tax results that would not arise if you invested directly in the underlying funds. By investing in underlying funds, you will bear not only your proportionate share of the Fund's expenses (including operating costs and investment advisory and administrative fees), but also, indirectly, similar expenses and charges of the underlying funds, including any contingent deferred sales charges and redemption charges. Finally, you may incur increased tax liabilities by investing in the Fund rather than directly in the underlying funds. Each underlying fund is subject to specific risks, depending on the nature of its investment strategy, including liquidity risk and default risk on the assets held by the underlying fund.

Performance:

The bar chart and accompanying table shown below provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows the total return of its Class A shares for each of the last ten full calendar years. Class C shares and Class I shares have similar annual returns to Class A shares because they are invested in the same portfolio of securities; however, the returns for Class C shares and Class I shares are different from Class A shares because Class C shares and Class I shares have different expenses than Class A shares. The performance table shows average annual total returns for Class A, Class C and Class I shares and how their average annual

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returns compare over time with those of a broad-based market index and a supplemental index. Sales charges are reflected in the information shown in the table, but the information shown in the bar chart does not reflect sales charges, and, if it did, returns would be lower. How the Fund has performed in the past (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by calling 1-866-447-4228 and on the Fund's website at www.CatalystMF.com.

Annual Total Returns

During the period shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 12.57% (quarter ended June 30, 2016), and the lowest return for a quarter was (19.81)% (quarter ended September 30, 2015). The Fund's Class A shares year-to-date return as of September 30, 2024 was 7.58%.

Average Annual Total Returns
(for the periods ended December 31, 2023)

Class A 1 Year 5 Year 10 Year
Return Before Taxes 10.90% 4.32% 1.17%
Return After Taxes on Distributions 7.90% 2.02% (1.30)%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares

6.37%

2.31%

(0.23)%

Class C
Return Before Taxes 15.51% 4.54% 0.92%
Class I
Return Before Taxes 16.71% 5.54% 1.92%
Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 1 5.53% 1.10% 1.81%
ICE BofA Merrill Lynch US Cash Pay High Yield Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 1 13.47% 5.24% 4.52%

1The Fund has changed its primary benchmark from the ICE BofA Merrill Lynch US Cash Pay High Yield Index to the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index to comply with new regulatory requirements.

After-tax returns are calculated using the highest historical individual federal marginal income tax rate and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns

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depend on a shareholder's tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant for shareholders who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts or to shares held by non-taxable entities. After-tax returns are only shown for Class A shares. After-tax returns for other share classes will vary.

Advisor: Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC is the Fund's investment advisor.

Sub-Advisor: SMH Capital Advisors, LLC serves as the Fund's sub-advisor.

Portfolio Managers: Dwayne Moyers, President, Chief Investment Officer and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Sub-Advisor and Lisa Haley, Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Operations Officer and Assistant Portfolio Manager, serve as the Fund's portfolio managers. Mr. Moyers and Ms. Haley are jointly and primarily responsible for managing the Fund. Mr. Moyers has served the Fund in this capacity since the Fund commenced operations in 2008. Ms. Haley has served the Fund in this capacity since 2023.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares: The minimum initial investment in each share class of the Fund is $2,500 for a regular account, and tax-deferred plans, such as an IRA or 401(k), and $100 for an automatic investment plan account. The minimum subsequent investment in the Fund is $50. You may purchase and redeem shares of the Fund on any day that the New York Stock Exchange is open. Redemption requests may be made in writing, by telephone or through a financial intermediary to the Fund or the Transfer Agent and will be paid by check or wire transfer.

Tax Information: Dividends and capital gain distributions you receive from the Fund, whether you reinvest your distributions in additional Fund shares or receive them in cash, are taxable to you at either ordinary income or capital gains tax rates unless you are investing through a tax-deferred plan such as an IRA or 401(k) plan. If you are investing in a tax-deferred plan, distributions may be taxable upon withdrawal from the plan.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries: If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary's website for more information.

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