REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 | ☒ |
Pre-Effective Amendment No. | □ |
Post-Effective Amendment No. 37 | ☒ |
INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940 | ☒ |
Amendment No. 39 | ☒ |
Counsel for the Fund: | |
Margery
K. Neale, Esq.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP 787 Seventh Avenue New York, New York 10019-6099 |
Benjamin
Archibald, Esq.
BlackRock Advisors, LLC 55 East 52nd Street New York, New York 10055 |
Fund Overview | Key facts and details about the Fund, including investment objective, principal investment strategies, principal risk factors, fee and expense information, and historical performance information | |
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Account Information | Information about account services, sales charges and waivers, shareholder transactions, and distributions and other payments | |
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Management of the Fund | Information about BlackRock and the Portfolio Manager | |
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Financial Highlights |
Financial Performance of the
Fund
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Glossary |
Glossary of Investment
Terms
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For More Information |
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Inside Back Cover |
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Back Cover |
Shareholder
Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment) |
Investor
A
Shares |
Investor
B
Shares |
Investor
C
Shares |
Institutional
Shares |
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as percentage of offering price) | 5.25% | None | None | None |
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as percentage of offering price or redemption proceeds, whichever is lower) | None 1 | 4.50% 2 | 1.00% 3 | None |
Annual
Fund Operating Expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
Investor
A
Shares |
Investor
B
Shares |
Investor
C
Shares |
Institutional
Shares |
Management Fee | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0.60% | 0.60% |
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees | 0.25% | 1.00% | 1.00% | None |
Other Expenses | 0.25% | 0.34% | 0.28% | 0.23% |
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses 4 | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.01% |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 4 | 1.11% | 1.95% | 1.89% | 0.84% |
1 | A contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) of 1.00% is assessed on certain redemptions of Investor A Shares made within 18 months after purchase where no initial sales charge was paid at time of purchase as part of an investment of $1,000,000 or more. |
2 | The CDSC is 4.50% if shares are redeemed in less than one year. The CDSC for Investor B Shares decreases for redemptions made in subsequent years. After six years there is no CDSC on Investor B Shares. (See the section “Details About the Share Classes — Investor B Shares” in the Fund’s prospectus for the complete schedule of CDSCs.) |
3 | There is no CDSC on Investor C Shares after one year. |
4 | The Total Fund Operating Expenses do not correlate to the ratio of expenses to average net assets given in the Fund’s most recent annual report which does not include Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses. |
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |
Investor A Shares | $632 | $859 | $1,104 | $1,806 |
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |
Investor B Shares | $648 | $962 | $1,252 | $2,057 |
Investor C Shares | $292 | $594 | $1,021 | $2,212 |
Institutional Shares | $ 86 | $268 | $ 466 | $1,037 |
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |
Investor B Shares | $198 | $612 | $1,052 | $2,057 |
Investor C Shares | $192 | $594 | $1,021 | $2,212 |
■ | Commodities Market Risk — Stocks of companies engaged in commodities related industries, such as energy or natural resources companies, are especially affected by variations in the commodities markets (that may be due to market events, regulatory developments or other factors that the Fund cannot control), and these companies may lack the resources and the broad business lines to weather hard times. |
■ | Emerging Markets Risk — Emerging markets are riskier than more developed markets because they tend to develop unevenly and may never fully develop. Investments in emerging markets may be considered speculative. Emerging markets are more likely to experience hyperinflation and currency devaluations, which adversely affect returns to U.S. investors. In addition, many emerging securities markets have far lower trading volumes and less liquidity than developed markets. |
■ | Equity Securities Risk — Stock markets are volatile. The price of equity securities fluctuates based on changes in a company’s financial condition and overall market and economic conditions. |
■ | Foreign Securities Risk — Foreign investments often involve special risks not present in U.S. investments that can increase the chances that the Fund will lose money. These risks include: |
■ | The Fund generally holds its foreign securities and cash in foreign banks and securities depositories, which may be recently organized or new to the foreign custody business and may be subject to only limited or no regulatory oversight. |
■ | Changes in foreign currency exchange rates can affect the value of the Fund’s portfolio. |
■ | The economies of certain foreign markets may not compare favorably with the economy of the United States with respect to such issues as growth of gross national product, reinvestment of capital, resources and balance of payments position. |
■ | The governments of certain countries may prohibit or impose substantial restrictions on foreign investments in their capital markets or in certain industries. |
■ | Many foreign governments do not supervise and regulate stock exchanges, brokers and the sale of securities to the same extent as does the United States and may not have laws to protect investors that are comparable to U.S. securities laws. |
■ | Settlement and clearance procedures in certain foreign markets may result in delays in payment for or delivery of securities not typically associated with settlement and clearance of U.S. investments. |
■ | Investment Style Risk — Under certain market conditions, value investments have performed better during the later stages of economic expansion. Therefore, this investment style may over time go in and out of favor. At times when the investment style used by the Fund is out of favor, the Fund may underperform other equity funds that use different investment styles. |
■ | Market Risk and Selection Risk — Market risk is the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. Selection risk is the risk that the securities selected by Fund management will underperform the markets, the relevant indices or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies. This means you may lose money. |
■ | Mid Cap Securities Risk — The securities of mid cap companies generally trade in lower volumes and are generally subject to greater and less predictable price changes than the securities of larger capitalization companies. |
■ | Natural Resource Related Securities Risk — Because the Fund concentrates its investments in natural resource related securities, the Fund is subject to the risks associated with natural resource investments in addition to the general risk of the stock market. This means the Fund is more vulnerable to the price movements of natural resources and factors that particularly affect the oil, gas, mining, energy, chemicals, paper, steel or agriculture sectors than a more broadly diversified fund. Because the Fund invests primarily in companies with natural resource assets, there is the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a downturn in natural resource prices. |
■ | Non-Diversification Risk — The Fund is a non-diversified fund. Because the Fund may invest in securities of a smaller number of issuers, it may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer than a fund that invests more widely. |
■ | Precious Metal Related Securities Risk — Prices of precious metals and of precious metal related securities historically have been very volatile. The high volatility of precious metal prices may adversely affect the financial condition of companies involved with precious metals. The production and sale of precious metals by governments or central banks or other larger holders can be affected by various economic, financial, social and political factors, which may be unpredictable and may have a significant impact on the prices of precious metals. Other factors that may affect the prices of precious metals and securities related to them include changes in inflation, the outlook for inflation and changes in industrial and commercial demand for precious metals. |
■ | Sector Risk — Sector risk is the risk that the Fund’s concentration in the securities of companies in a specific market sector or industry will cause the Fund to be more exposed to the price movements of companies in and developments affecting that sector than a more broadly diversified fund. Because the Fund invests primarily in one sector, there is the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a downturn in that sector. |
As
of 12/31/14
Average Annual Total Returns |
1 Year | 5 Years | 10 Years |
BlackRock Natural Resources Trust — Investor A Shares | |||
Return Before Taxes | (18.20)% | 0.79% | 6.64% |
Return After Taxes on Distributions | (20.06)% | 0.23% | 6.15% |
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | (8.93)% | 0.57% | 5.42% |
BlackRock Natural Resources Trust — Investor B Shares | |||
Return Before Taxes | (17.81)% | 0.72% | 6.56% |
BlackRock Natural Resources Trust — Investor C Shares | |||
Return Before Taxes | (15.11)% | 1.08% | 6.38% |
BlackRock Natural Resources Trust — Institutional Shares | |||
Return Before Taxes | (13.45)% | 2.16% | 7.50% |
S&P
North American Natural Resources Sector Index
(Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
(9.77%) | 4.28% | 7.65% |
S&P
500
®
Index
(Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
13.69% | 15.45% | 7.68% |
MSCI
Natural Resources Index
(Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
(5.99)% | 4.07% | 7.13% |
Name |
Portfolio
Manager
of the Fund Since |
Title |
Robert M. Shearer, CFA | 1997 | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
Investor
A and
Investor C Shares |
Investor B Shares | Institutional Shares | |
Minimum Initial Investment |
$1,000
for all accounts except:
• $250 for certain fee-based programs. • $100 for certain employer-sponsored retirement plans. • $50, if establishing an Automatic Investment Plan. |
Available only through exchanges and dividend reinvestments by current holders and for purchase by certain employer-sponsored retirement plans. |
There
is no minimum initial investment for employer-sponsored retirement plans (not including SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs or SARSEPs), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles,
unaffiliated thrifts and unaffiliated banks and trust companies, each of which may purchase shares of the Fund through a Financial Intermediary that has entered into an agreement with the Fund’s distributor to purchase such shares.
|
Minimum
Additional
Investment |
$50 for all accounts (with the exception of certain employer-sponsored retirement plans which may have a lower minimum). | N/A | No subsequent minimum. |
■ | Common stock |
■ | Preferred stock |
■ | Securities convertible into common stock |
■ | Rights to subscribe for common stock |
■ | Derivative securities or instruments, such as options, the value of which is based on a common stock or group of common stocks |
■ | Asset-Based Securities — The Fund may invest in asset-based securities. These are securities whose principal amount, redemption terms or conversion terms are related to the market price of some natural resource asset, such as gold bullion. The Fund will only purchase asset-based securities that are rated, or are issued by issuers that have outstanding debt obligations rated, investment grade or are issued by issuers that BlackRock has determined to be of similar creditworthiness. The Fund has no maturity restrictions. The Fund may also invest in asset-based securities the potential return of which is based on the change in a specified commodity price. The Fund may, for example, invest in a debt security that pays a variable amount of interest or principal based on the current level of a natural resource commodity, such as gold or oil. |
■ | Borrowing — The Fund may borrow for temporary or emergency purposes, including to meet redemptions, for the payment of dividends, for share repurchases or for the clearance of transactions. |
■ | Convertible Securities — The Fund may invest in convertible securities. Convertible securities generally are debt securities or preferred stock that may be converted into common stock. Convertible securities typically pay current income as either interest (debt security convertibles) or dividends (preferred stock). A convertible security’s value usually reflects both the stream of current income payments and the market value of the underlying common stock. |
■ | Depositary Receipts — The Fund may invest in securities of foreign issuers in the form of depositary receipts or other securities that are convertible into securities of foreign issuers. American depositary receipts are receipts typically issued by an American bank or Fund company that evidence underlying securities issued by a foreign corporation. European depositary receipts (issued in Europe) and global depositary receipts (issued throughout the world) each evidence a similar ownership arrangement. The Fund may invest in unsponsored depositary receipts. |
■ | Derivative Transactions — The Fund may use derivatives to hedge its investment portfolio against market, interest rate and currency risks or to seek to enhance its return. The derivatives that the Fund may use include indexed and inverse securities, options, futures, swaps and forward foreign exchange transactions. |
■ | Illiquid/Restricted Securities — The Fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in illiquid securities that it cannot sell within seven days at approximately current value. Restricted securities are securities that cannot be offered for public resale unless registered under the applicable securities laws or that have a contractual restriction that prohibits or limits their resale ( e.g. , Rule 144A securities). They may include private placement securities that have not been registered under the applicable securities laws. Restricted securities may not be listed on an exchange and may have no active trading market and therefore may be considered to be illiquid. Rule 144A securities are restricted securities that can be resold to qualified institutional buyers but not to the general public. |
■ | Indexed and Inverse Securities — The Fund may invest in securities the potential return of which is based on the change in a specified interest rate or equity index (an “indexed security”). The Fund may also invest in securities whose return is inversely related to changes in an interest rate or index (“inverse securities”). In general, the return on inverse securities will decrease when the underlying index or interest rate goes up and increase when that index or interest rate goes down. |
■ | Investment Companies — The Fund has the ability to invest in other investment companies, such as exchange-traded funds, unit investment trusts, and open-end and closed-end funds. The Fund may invest in affiliated investment companies, including affiliated money market funds and affiliated exchange traded funds. |
■ | Repurchase Agreements and Purchase and Sale Contracts — The Fund may enter into certain types of repurchase agreements or purchase and sale contracts. Under a repurchase agreement, the seller agrees to repurchase a security at a mutually agreed-upon time and price. A purchase and sale contract is similar to a repurchase agreement, but purchase and sale contracts also provide that the purchaser receives any interest on the security paid during the period. |
■ | Securities Lending — The Fund may lend securities with a value up to 33 1 ⁄ 3 % of its total assets to financial institutions that provide cash or securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government as collateral. |
■ | Short-term Securities — The Fund may hold cash or invest in U.S. Government securities and money market securities, including repurchase agreements. These investments may be made in securities that are not natural resource related securities. Fund management will hold these temporary investments in the proportions it believes are best considering the prevailing market and economic conditions. These investments may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective. |
■ | When-Issued and Delayed Delivery Securities and Forward Commitments — The purchase or sale of securities on a when-issued basis, on a delayed delivery basis or through a forward commitment involves the purchase or sale of securities by the Fund at an established price with payment and delivery taking place in the future. The Fund enters into these transactions to obtain what is considered an advantageous price to the Fund at the time of entering into the transaction. |
■ | Commodities Market Risk — Commodities-related investments are especially affected by variations in the commodities markets (that may be due to market events, regulatory developments or other factors that the Fund cannot control) and these entities may lack the resources and the broad business lines to weather hard times. For example, energy companies can be significantly affected by the supply of and demand for specific products and services, the supply of and demand for oil and gas, the price of oil and gas, exploration and production spending, government regulation, world events and economic conditions. Natural resources companies can be significantly affected by events relating to international political developments, energy conservation, the success of exploration projects, commodity prices, and tax and government regulations. |
■ | Emerging Markets Risk — The risks of foreign investments are usually much greater for emerging markets. Investments in emerging markets may be considered speculative. Emerging markets include those in countries defined as emerging or developing by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation or the United Nations. Emerging markets are riskier than more developed markets because they tend to develop unevenly and may never fully develop. They are more likely to experience hyperinflation and currency devaluations, which adversely affect returns to U.S. investors. In addition, many emerging markets have far lower trading volumes and less liquidity than developed markets. Since these markets are often small, they may be more likely to suffer sharp and frequent price changes or long-term price depression because of adverse publicity, investor perceptions or the actions of a few large investors. In addition, traditional measures of investment value used in the United States, such as price to earnings ratios, may not apply to certain small markets. Also, there may be less publicly available information about issuers in emerging markets than would be available about issuers in more developed capital markets, and such |
issuers may not be subject to accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards and requirements comparable to those to which U.S. companies are subject. | |
Many emerging markets have histories of political instability and abrupt changes in policies. As a result, their governments are more likely to take actions that are hostile or detrimental to private enterprise or foreign investment than those of more developed countries, including expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, high rates of inflation or unfavorable diplomatic developments. In the past, governments of such nations have expropriated substantial amounts of private property, and most claims of the property owners have never been fully settled. There is no assurance that such expropriations will not reoccur. In such an event, it is possible that the Fund could lose the entire value of its investments in the affected market. Some countries have pervasiveness of corruption and crime that may hinder investments. Certain emerging markets may also face other significant internal or external risks, including the risk of war, and ethnic, religious and racial conflicts. In addition, governments in many emerging market countries participate to a significant degree in their economies and securities markets, which may impair investment and economic growth. National policies that may limit the Fund’s investment opportunities include restrictions on investment in issuers or industries deemed sensitive to national interests. | |
Emerging markets may also have differing legal systems and the existence or possible imposition of exchange controls, custodial restrictions or other foreign or U.S. governmental laws or restrictions applicable to such investments. Sometimes, they may lack or be in the relatively early development of legal structures governing private and foreign investments and private property. Many emerging markets do not have income tax treaties with the United States, and as a result, investments by the Fund may be subject to higher withholding taxes in such countries. In addition, some countries with emerging markets may impose differential capital gains taxes on foreign investors. | |
Practices in relation to settlement of securities transactions in emerging markets involve higher risks than those in developed markets, in part because the Fund will need to use brokers and counterparties that are less well capitalized, and custody and registration of assets in some countries may be unreliable. The possibility of fraud, negligence, undue influence being exerted by the issuer or refusal to recognize that ownership exists in some emerging markets, and, along with other factors, could result in ownership registration being completely lost. The Fund would absorb any loss resulting from such registration problems and may have no successful claim for compensation. In addition, communications between the United States and emerging market countries may be unreliable, increasing the risk of delayed settlements or losses of security certificates. | |
■ | Equity Securities Risk — Common and preferred stocks represent equity ownership in a company. Stock markets are volatile. The price of equity securities will fluctuate and can decline and reduce the value of a portfolio investing in equities. The value of equity securities purchased by the Fund could decline if the financial condition of the companies the Fund invests in declines or if overall market and economic conditions deteriorate. The value of equity securities may also decline due to factors that affect a particular industry or industries, such as labor shortages or an increase in production costs and competitive conditions within an industry. In addition, the value may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a company or industry, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the general outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or generally adverse investor sentiment. |
■ | Foreign Securities Risk — Securities traded in foreign markets have often (though not always) performed differently from securities traded in the United States. However, such investments often involve special risks not present in U.S. investments that can increase the chances that the Fund will lose money. In particular, the Fund is subject to the risk that because there may be fewer investors on foreign exchanges and a smaller number of securities traded each day, it may be more difficult for the Fund to buy and sell securities on those exchanges. In addition, prices of foreign securities may go up and down more than prices of securities traded in the United States. |
■ | Investment Style Risk — Under certain market conditions, value investments have performed better during the later stages of economic expansion. Therefore, this investment style may over time go in and out of favor. At times when the investment style used by the Fund is out of favor, the Fund may underperform other equity funds that use different investment styles. |
■ | Market Risk and Selection Risk — Market risk is the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. Selection risk is the risk that the securities selected by Fund management will underperform the markets, the relevant indices or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies. This means you may lose money. |
■ | Mid Cap Securities Risk — The securities of mid cap companies generally trade in lower volumes and are generally subject to greater and less predictable price changes than the securities of larger capitalization companies. |
■ | Natural Resource Related Securities Risk — Because the Fund concentrates its investments in natural resource related securities, the Fund is subject to the risks associated with natural resource investments in addition to the |
general risk of the stock market. This means the Fund is more vulnerable to the price movements of natural resources and factors that particularly affect the oil, gas, mining, energy, chemicals, paper, steel or agriculture sectors than a more broadly diversified fund. Because the Fund invests primarily in companies with natural resource assets, there is the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a downturn in natural resource prices. | |
■ | Non-Diversification Risk — The Fund is a non-diversified fund. Because the Fund may invest in securities of a smaller number of issuers, it may be more exposed to the risks associated with and developments affecting an individual issuer than a fund that invests more widely. |
■ | Precious Metal Related Securities Risk — Prices of precious metals and of precious metal related securities historically have been very volatile. The high volatility of precious metal prices may adversely affect the financial condition of companies involved with precious metals. The production and sale of precious metals by governments or central banks or other larger holders can be affected by various economic, financial, social and political factors, which may be unpredictable and may have a significant impact on the prices of precious metals. Other factors that may affect the prices of precious metals and securities related to them include changes in inflation, the outlook for inflation and changes in industrial and commercial demand for precious metals. |
■ | Sector Risk — Sector risk is the risk that the Fund’s concentration in the securities of companies in a specific market sector or industry will cause the Fund to be more exposed to the price movements of companies in and developments affecting that sector than a more broadly diversified fund. Because the Fund invests primarily in one sector, there is the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a downturn in that sector. |
■ | Asset-Based Securities Risk — Asset-based securities are fixed-income securities whose value is related to the market price of a certain natural resource, such as a precious metal. Although the market price of these securities is expected to follow the market price of the related resource, there may not be perfect correlation. There are special risks associated with certain types of natural resource assets that will also affect the value of asset-based securities related to those assets. For example, precious metal prices historically have been very volatile, which may adversely affect the financial condition of companies involved with precious metals. The production and sale of precious metals by governments or central banks or other larger holders can be affected by various economic, financial, social and political factors, which may be unpredictable and may have a significant impact on the prices of precious metals. Other factors that may affect the prices of precious metals and securities related to them include changes in inflation, the outlook for inflation and changes in industrial and commercial demand for precious metals. |
■ | Borrowing Risk — Borrowing may exaggerate changes in the net asset value of Fund shares and in the return on the Fund’s portfolio. Borrowing will cost the Fund interest expense and other fees. The costs of borrowing may reduce the Fund’s return. Borrowing may cause the Fund to liquidate positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations. |
■ | Convertible Securities Risk — The market value of a convertible security performs like that of a regular debt security; that is, if market interest rates rise, the value of a convertible security usually falls. In addition, convertible securities are subject to the risk that the issuer will not be able to pay interest or dividends when due, and their market value may change based on changes in the issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of the issuer’s creditworthiness. Since it derives a portion of its value from the common stock into which it may be converted, a convertible security is also subject to the same types of market and issuer risks that apply to the underlying common stock. |
■ | Debt Securities Risk — Debt securities, such as bonds, involve credit risk. Credit risk is the risk that the borrower will not make timely payments of principal and interest. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on the issuer’s financial condition and on the terms of the securities. Debt securities are also subject to interest rate risk. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of a debt security may fall when interest rates rise. In general, the market price of debt securities with longer maturities will go up or down more in response to changes in interest rates than the market price of shorter term securities. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates due to the current period of historically low rates. |
■ | Depositary Receipts Risk — The issuers of unsponsored depositary receipts are not obligated to disclose information that is, in the United States, considered material. Therefore, there may be less information available regarding these issuers and there may not be a correlation between such information and the market value of the depositary receipts. Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. |
■ | Derivatives Risk — The Fund’s use of derivatives may increase its costs, reduce the Fund’s returns and/or increase volatility. Derivatives involve significant risks, including: |
Volatility Risk — The Fund’s use of derivatives may reduce the Fund’s returns and/or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. A risk of the Fund’s use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate with the overall securities markets. | |
Counterparty Risk — Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. | |
Market and Liquidity Risk — Some derivatives are more sensitive to interest rate changes and market price fluctuations than other securities. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, which losses are potentially unlimited. Finally, BlackRock may not be able to predict correctly the direction of securities prices, interest rates and other economic factors, which could cause the Fund’s derivatives positions to lose value. | |
Valuation Risk — Valuation may be more difficult in times of market turmoil since many investors and market makers may be reluctant to purchase complex instruments or quote prices for them. Derivatives may also expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. Certain transactions in derivatives involve substantial leverage risk and may expose the Fund to potential losses that exceed the amount originally invested by the Fund. | |
Hedging Risk — When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund’s hedging transactions will be effective. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences noted below. | |
Tax Risk – The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset and may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund’s distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”). If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). | |
Regulatory Risk — Derivative contracts, including, without limitation, swaps, currency forwards and non-deliverable forwards, are subject to regulation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) in the U.S. and under comparable regimes in Europe, Asia and other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, certain derivatives may become subject to margin requirements when regulations are finalized. Implementation of such regulations under the Dodd-Frank Act regarding clearing, mandatory trading and margining of swaps and other derivatives may increase the costs to the Fund of trading in these instruments and, as a result, may affect returns to investors in the Fund. Other future regulatory developments may also impact the Fund’s ability to invest or remain invested in certain derivatives. Legislation or regulation may also change the way in which the Fund itself is regulated. BlackRock cannot predict the effects of any new governmental regulation that may be implemented on the ability of the Fund to use swaps or any other financial derivative product, and there can be no assurance that any new governmental regulation will not adversely affect the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. | |
Risks Specific to Certain Derivatives Used by the Fund | |
Swaps – Swap agreements are two-party contracts entered into for periods ranging from a few weeks to more than one year. In a standard “swap” transaction, two parties agree to exchange the returns (or differentials in rates of return) earned or realized on particular predetermined investments or instruments, which can be adjusted for an interest factor. Swap agreements involve the risk that the party with whom the Fund has entered into the swap will default on its obligation to pay the Fund and the risk that the Fund will not be able to meet its obligations to pay the other party to the agreement. | |
Forward Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts – Forward foreign currency exchange transactions are OTC contracts to purchase or sell a specified amount of a specified currency or multinational currency unit at a price and future date set at the time of the contract. Forward foreign currency exchange contracts do not eliminate fluctuations in the value of non-U.S. securities but rather allow the Fund to establish a fixed rate of exchange for a future point in time. This strategy can have the effect of reducing returns and minimizing opportunities for gain. |
Indexed and Inverse Securities – Indexed and inverse securities provide a potential return based on a particular index of value or interest rates. The Fund’s return on these securities will be subject to risk with respect to the value of the particular index. These securities are subject to leverage risk and correlation risk. Certain indexed and inverse securities have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates or index levels than other securities, and the Fund’s investment in such instruments may decline significantly in value if interest rates or index levels move in a way Fund management does not anticipate. | |
Futures – Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts and options are: (a) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract or option; (b) the possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (c) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (d) the investment advisor’s inability to predict correctly the direction of securities prices, interest rates, currency exchange rates and other economic factors; and (e) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations. | |
Options – An option is an agreement that, for a premium payment or fee, gives the option holder (the purchaser) the right but not the obligation to buy (a “call option”) or sell (a “put option”) the underlying asset (or settle for cash in an amount based on an underlying asset, rate, or index) at a specified price (the “exercise price”) during a period of time or on a specified date. Investments in options are considered speculative. When the Fund purchases an option, it may lose the premium paid for it if the price of the underlying security or other assets decreased or remained the same (in the case of a call option) or increased or remained the same (in the case of a put option). If a put or call option purchased by the Fund were permitted to expire without being sold or exercised, its premium would represent a loss to the Fund. To the extent that the Fund writes or sells an option, if the decline or increase in the underlying asset is significantly below or above the exercise price of the written option, the Fund could experience a substantial loss. |
■ | Expense Risk — Fund expenses are subject to a variety of factors, including fluctuations in the Fund’s net assets. Accordingly, actual expenses may be greater or less than those indicated. For example, to the extent that the Fund’s net assets decrease due to market declines or redemptions, the Fund’s expenses will increase as a percentage of Fund net assets. During periods of high market volatility, these increases in the Fund’s expense ratio could be significant. |
■ | Indexed and Inverse Securities Risk — Certain indexed and inverse securities have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates or index levels than other securities, and the Fund’s investment in such instruments may decline significantly in value if interest rates or index levels move in a way Fund management does not anticipate. |
■ | Investment in Other Investment Companies Risk — As with other investments, investments in other investment companies are subject to market and selection risk. In addition, if the Fund acquires shares of investment companies, including ones affiliated with the Fund, shareholders bear both their proportionate share of expenses in the Fund (including management and advisory fees) and, indirectly, the expenses of the investment companies. To the extent the Fund is held by an affiliated fund, the ability of the Fund itself to hold other investment companies may be limited. |
■ | Leverage Risk — Some transactions may give rise to a form of economic leverage. These transactions may include, among others, derivatives, and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. As an open-end investment company registered with the SEC, the Fund is subject to the federal securities laws, including the Investment Company Act, the rules thereunder, and various SEC and SEC staff interpretive positions. In accordance with these laws, rules and positions, the Fund must “set aside” liquid assets (often referred to as “asset segregation”), or engage in other SEC- or staff-approved measures, to “cover” open positions with respect to certain kinds of instruments. The use of leverage may cause the Fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations or to meet any required asset segregation requirements. Increases and decreases in the value of the Fund’s portfolio will be magnified when the Fund uses leverage. |
■ | Liquidity Risk — Liquidity risk exists when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell. The Fund’s investment in illiquid securities may reduce the returns of the Fund because it may be difficult to sell the illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price. To the extent that the Fund’s principal investment strategies involve derivatives or securities with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have the greatest exposure to liquidity risk. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets, and if the Fund is forced to sell these investments to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. In addition, when there is illiquidity in the market for certain securities, the Fund, due to limitations on illiquid investments, may be subject to purchase and sale restrictions. |
■ | Preferred Securities Risk — Preferred securities may pay fixed or adjustable rates of return. Preferred securities are subject to issuer-specific and market risks applicable generally to equity securities. In addition, a company’s preferred securities generally pay dividends only after the company makes required payments to holders of its bonds and other debt. For this reason, the value of preferred securities will usually react more strongly than bonds and other debt to actual or perceived changes in the company’s financial condition or prospects. Preferred securities of smaller companies may be more vulnerable to adverse developments than preferred stock of larger companies. |
■ | Repurchase Agreements and Purchase and Sale Contracts Risk — If the other party to a repurchase agreement or purchase and sale contract defaults on its obligation under the agreement, the Fund may suffer delays and incur costs or lose money in exercising its rights under the agreement. If the seller fails to repurchase the security in either situation and the market value of the security declines, the Fund may lose money. |
■ | Securities Lending Risk — Securities lending involves the risk that the borrower may fail to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. As a result, the Fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The Fund could also lose money if it does not recover the securities and/or the value of the collateral falls, including the value of investments made with cash collateral. These events could trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund. |
■ | Small Cap Securities Risk — Small cap companies may have limited product lines or markets. They may be less financially secure than larger, more established companies. They may depend on a small number of key personnel. If a product fails or there are other adverse developments, or if management changes, the Fund’s investment in a small cap company may lose substantial value. In addition, it is more difficult to get information on smaller companies, which tend to be less well known, have shorter operating histories, do not have significant ownership by large investors and are followed by relatively few securities analysts. |
The securities of small cap companies generally trade in lower volumes and are subject to greater and more unpredictable price changes than larger cap securities or the market as a whole. In addition, small cap securities may be particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates, borrowing costs and earnings. Investing in small cap securities requires a longer term view. | |
■ | When-Issued and Delayed Delivery Securities and Forward Commitments Risk — When-issued and delayed delivery securities and forward commitments involve the risk that the security the Fund buys will lose value prior to its delivery. There also is the risk that the security will not be issued or that the other party to the transaction will not meet its obligation. If this occurs, the Fund may lose both the investment opportunity for the assets it set aside to pay for the security and any gain in the security’s price. |
Investor A | Investor B | Investor C 2,3 | Institutional | |
Availability | Generally available through Financial Intermediaries. | Available only through exchanges and dividend reinvestments by current holders and for purchase by certain employer-sponsored retirement plans. | Generally available through Financial Intermediaries. |
Limited
to certain investors, including:
• Individuals and Institutional Investors who may purchase shares of the Fund through a Financial Intermediary that has entered into an agreement with the Distributor to purchase such shares. • Employer-sponsored retirement plans (not including SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs or SARSEPs), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles, unaffiliated thrifts and unaffiliated banks and trust companies, each of which may purchase shares of the Fund through a Financial Intermediary that has entered into an agreement with the Distributor to purchase such shares. • Employees, officers and directors/trustees of BlackRock or its affiliates. • Participants in certain programs sponsored by BlackRock or its affiliates or other Financial Intermediaries. |
Investor A | Investor B | Investor C 2,3 | Institutional | |
Minimum Investment |
$1,000
for all accounts except:
• $250 for certain fee-based programs. • $100 for certain employer-sponsored retirement plans. • $50, if establishing an Automatic Investment Plan (“AIP”). |
Investor B Shares are not generally available for purchase (see above). |
$1,000
for all accounts except:
• $250 for certain fee-based programs. • $100 for certain employer-sponsored retirement plans. • $50, if establishing an AIP. |
There
is no investment minimum for:
• Employer-sponsored retirement plans (not including SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs or SARSEPs), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles, unaffiliated thrifts and unaffiliated banks and trust companies. • Employees, officers and directors/trustees of BlackRock or its affiliates. |
Initial Sales Charge? | Yes. Payable at time of purchase. Lower sales charges are available for larger investments. | No. Entire purchase price is invested in shares of the Fund. | No. Entire purchase price is invested in shares of the Fund. | No. Entire purchase price is invested in shares of the Fund. |
Deferred Sales Charge? | No. (May be charged for purchases of $1 million or more that are redeemed within 18 months.) | Yes. Payable if you redeem within six years of purchase. | Yes. Payable if you redeem within one year of purchase. | No. |
Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees? |
No
Distribution Fee.
0.25% Annual Service Fee. |
0.75%
Annual Distribution Fee.
|
0.75%
Annual Distribution Fee.
|
No. |
Redemption Fees? | No. | No. | No. | No. |
Conversion to Investor A Shares? | N/A | Yes, automatically after approximately eight years. | No. | No. |
Investor A | Investor B | Investor C 2,3 | Institutional | |
Advantage | Makes sense for investors who are eligible to have the sales charge reduced or eliminated or who have a long-term investment horizon because there are no ongoing distribution fees. | No up-front sales charge so you start off owning more shares. |
No
up-front sales charge so you start off owning more shares.
|
No up-front sales charge so you start off owning more shares. No distribution or service fees. |
Disadvantage | You pay a sales charge up-front, and therefore you start off owning fewer shares. |
Limited
availability.
You pay ongoing distribution fees each year you own Investor B Shares, which means that you can expect lower total performance than Investor A shares. |
You
pay ongoing distribution fees each year you own Investor C Shares, which means that over the long term you can expect higher total fees per share than Investor A Shares
and, as a result, lower total performance. |
Limited availability. |
1 | Please see “Details About the Share Classes” for more information about each share class. |
2 | If you establish a new account directly with the Fund and do not have a Financial Intermediary associated with your account, you may only invest in Investor A Shares. Applications without a Financial Intermediary that select Investor C Shares will not be accepted. |
3 | The Fund will not accept a purchase order of $500,000 or more for Investor C Shares. Your Financial Intermediary may set a lower maximum for Investor C Shares. |
Your Investment |
Sales
Charge
as a % of Offering Price |
Sales
Charge
as a % of Your Investment 1 |
Dealer
Compensation as a % of Offering Price |
Less than $25,000 | 5.25% | 5.54% | 5.00% |
$25,000 but less than $50,000 | 4.75% | 4.99% | 4.50% |
$50,000 but less than $100,000 | 4.00% | 4.17% | 3.75% |
$100,000 but less than $250,000 | 3.00% | 3.09% | 2.75% |
$250,000 but less than $500,000 | 2.50% | 2.56% | 2.25% |
$500,000 but less than $750,000 | 2.00% | 2.04% | 1.75% |
$750,000 but less than $1,000,000 | 1.50% | 1.52% | 1.25% |
$1,000,000 and over 2 | 0.00% | 0.00% | — 2 |
1 | Rounded to the nearest one-hundredth percent. |
2 | If you invest $1,000,000 or more in Investor A Shares, you will not pay an initial sales charge. In that case, BlackRock compensates the |
Financial Intermediary from its own resources. However, if you redeem your shares within 18 months after purchase, you may be charged a deferred sales charge of 1.00% of the lesser of the original cost of the shares being redeemed or your redemption proceeds. Such deferred sales charge may be waived in connection with certain fee-based programs. |
■ | Certain employer-sponsored retirement plans. For purposes of this waiver, employer-sponsored retirement plans do not include SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs or SARSEPs; |
■ | Rollovers of current investments through certain employer-sponsored retirement plans, provided the shares are transferred to the same BlackRock Fund as either a direct rollover, or subsequent to distribution, the rolled-over proceeds are contributed to a BlackRock IRA through an account directly with the Fund; or purchases by IRA programs that are sponsored by Financial Intermediary firms provided the Financial Intermediary firm has entered into a Class A Net Asset Value agreement with respect to such program with the Distributor; |
■ | Insurance company separate accounts; |
■ | Registered investment advisers, trust companies and bank trust departments exercising discretionary investment authority with respect to amounts to be invested in the Fund; |
■ | Persons participating in a fee-based program (such as a wrap account) under which they pay advisory fees to a broker-dealer or other financial institution; |
■ | Financial Intermediaries who have entered into an agreement with the Distributor and have been approved by the Distributor to offer Fund shares to self-directed investment brokerage accounts that may or may not charge a transaction fee; |
■ | Persons associated with the Fund, the Fund’s manager, the Fund’s sub-adviser, transfer agent, Distributor, fund accounting agents, Barclays PLC (“Barclays”) and their respective affiliates (to the extent permitted by these firms) including: (a) officers, directors and partners; (b) employees and retirees; (c) employees of firms who have entered into selling agreements to distribute shares of BlackRock Funds; (d) immediate family members of such persons; and (e) any trust, pension, profit-sharing or other benefit plan for any of the persons set forth in (a) through (d); and |
■ | State sponsored 529 college savings plans. |
Years Since Purchase | Sales Charge 1 |
0–1 | 4.50% |
1–2 | 4.00% |
2–3 | 3.50% |
3–4 | 3.00% |
4–5 | 2.00% |
5–6 | 1.00% |
6 and thereafter | 0.00% |
1 | The percentage charge will apply to the lesser of the original cost of the shares being redeemed or the proceeds of your redemption. Not all BlackRock Funds have identical deferred sales charge schedules. If you exchange your shares for shares of another BlackRock Fund, the original deferred sales charge schedule will apply. |
■ | Redemptions of shares purchased through certain employer-sponsored retirement plans and rollovers of current investments in the Fund through such plans; |
■ | Exchanges pursuant to the exchange privilege, as described in “How to Buy, Sell, Exchange and Transfer Shares — How to Exchange Shares or Transfer Your Account”; |
■ | Redemptions made in connection with minimum required distributions from IRA or 403(b)(7) accounts due to the shareholder reaching the age of 70½; |
■ | Certain post-retirement withdrawals from an IRA or other retirement plan if you are over 59½ years old and you purchased your shares prior to October 2, 2006; |
■ | Redemptions made with respect to certain retirement plans sponsored by the Fund, BlackRock or an affiliate; |
■ | Redemptions resulting from shareholder death as long as the waiver request is made within one year of death or, if later, reasonably promptly following completion of probate (including in connection with the distribution of account assets to a beneficiary of the decedent); |
■ | Withdrawals resulting from shareholder disability (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code) as long as the disability arose subsequent to the purchase of the shares; |
■ | Involuntary redemptions made of shares in accounts with low balances; |
■ | Certain redemptions made through the Systematic Withdrawal Plan offered by the Fund, BlackRock or an affiliate; |
■ | Redemptions related to the payment of BNY Mellon Investment Servicing Trust Company custodial IRA fees; and |
■ | Redemptions when a shareholder can demonstrate hardship, in the absolute discretion of the Fund. |
■ | Individuals and “Institutional Investors” with a minimum initial investment of $2 million who may purchase shares of the Fund through a Financial Intermediary that has entered into an agreement with the Distributor to purchase such shares; |
■ | Investors of Financial Intermediaries that: (i) charge such investors a fee for advisory, investment consulting, or similar services or (ii) have entered into an agreement with the Distributor to offer Institutional Shares through a no-load program or investment platform, in each case, with a minimum initial investment of $1,000; |
■ | Employer-sponsored retirement plans (not including SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs or SARSEPs), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles, unaffiliated thrifts and unaffiliated banks and trust companies, each of which is not subject to any minimum initial investment and may purchase shares of the Fund through a Financial Intermediary that has entered into an agreement with the Distributor to purchase such shares; |
■ | Trust department clients of PNC Bank and Bank of America, N.A. and their affiliates for whom they (i) act in a fiduciary capacity (excluding participant directed employee benefit plans); (ii) otherwise have investment discretion; or (iii) act as custodian for at least $2 million in assets, who are not subject to any minimum initial investment; |
■ | Holders of certain BofA Corp. sponsored UITs who reinvest dividends received from such UITs in shares of the Fund, who are not subject to any minimum initial investment; and |
■ | Employees, officers and directors/trustees of BlackRock, Inc., BlackRock Funds, BofA Corp., PNC, Barclays or their respective affiliates, who are not subject to any minimum initial investment. |
■ | Responding to customer questions on the services performed by the Financial Intermediary and investments in Investor A, Investor B and Investor C Shares; |
■ | Assisting customers in choosing and changing dividend options, account designations and addresses; and |
■ | Providing other similar shareholder liaison services. |
Your Choices | Important Information for You to Know | |
Initial Purchase (continued) | Have your Financial Intermediary submit your purchase order (continued) | The Fund may reject any order to buy shares and may suspend the sale of shares at any time. Certain Financial Intermediaries may charge a processing fee to confirm a purchase. |
Or contact BlackRock (for accounts held directly with BlackRock) | To purchase shares directly from BlackRock, call (800) 441-7762 and request a new account application. Mail the completed application along with a check payable to “BlackRock Funds” to the Transfer Agent at the address on the application. | |
Add to Your Investment | Purchase additional shares | For Investor A and Investor C Shares, the minimum investment for additional purchases is generally $50 for all accounts (with the exception of certain employer-sponsored retirement plans which may have a lower minimum for additional purchases). The minimums for additional purchases may be waived under certain circumstances. Institutional Shares have no minimum for additional purchases. |
Have your Financial Intermediary submit your purchase order for additional shares | To purchase additional shares, you may contact your Financial Intermediary. For more details on purchasing by Internet see below. | |
Or contact BlackRock (for accounts held directly with BlackRock) |
Purchase
by Telephone:
Call (800) 441-7762 and speak with one of our representatives. The Fund has the right to reject any telephone request for any reason.
|
|
Acquire
additional shares
by reinvesting dividends and capital gains |
All dividends and capital gains distributions are automatically reinvested without a sales charge. To make any changes to your dividend and/or capital gains distributions options, please call (800) 441-7762 or contact your Financial Intermediary (if your account is not held directly with BlackRock). | |
Participate in the Automatic Investment Plan (“AIP”) |
BlackRock’s
AIP allows you to invest a specific amount on a periodic basis from your checking or savings account into your investment account.
|
Your Choices | Important Information for You to Know | |
How to Pay for Shares | Making payment for purchases |
Payment
for an order must be made in Federal funds or other immediately available funds by the time specified by your Financial Intermediary, but in no event later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on the third business day (in the case of Investor Shares) or
the first business day (in the case of Institutional Shares) following BlackRock’s receipt of the order. If payment is not received by this time, the order will be canceled and you and your Financial Intermediary will be responsible for any
loss to the Fund.
|
Your Choices | Important Information for You to Know | |
Full or Partial Redemption of Shares | Have your Financial Intermediary submit your sales order |
You
can make redemption requests through your Financial Intermediary. Shareholders should indicate whether they are redeeming Investor A, Investor B, Investor C or Institutional Shares. The price of your shares is based on the next calculation of the
Fund’s net asset value after your order is placed. For your redemption request to be priced at the net asset value on the day of your request, you must submit your request to your Financial Intermediary prior to that day’s close of
business on the NYSE (generally 4:00 p.m. Eastern time). Certain Financial Intermediaries, however, may require submission of orders prior to that time. Any redemption request placed after that time will be priced at the net asset value at the close
of business on the next business day.
|
Selling shares held directly with BlackRock |
Methods
of Redeeming
|
Your Choices | Important Information for You to Know | |
Full or Partial Redemption of Shares (continued) | Selling shares held directly with BlackRock (continued) |
by
the VRU service may be made for non-retirement accounts in amounts up to $25,000, either through check, ACH or wire.
|
Your Choices | Important Information for You to Know | |
Full or Partial Redemption of Shares (continued) | Selling shares held directly with BlackRock (continued) |
imposed
by the Fund.
***
If you make a redemption request before the Fund has collected payment for the purchase of shares, the Fund may delay mailing your proceeds. This delay will usually not exceed ten days. |
Your Choices | Important Information for You to Know | |
Exchange Privilege | Selling shares of one fund to purchase shares of another BlackRock Fund (“exchanging”) |
Investor
or Institutional Shares of the Fund are generally exchangeable for shares of the same class of another BlackRock Fund.
|
Your Choices | Important Information for You to Know | |
Exchange Privilege (continued) | Selling shares of one fund to purchase shares of another BlackRock Fund (“exchanging”) (continued) | any time in the future. The Fund may suspend or terminate your exchange privilege at any time for any reason, including if the Fund believes, in its sole discretion, that you are engaging in market timing activities. See “Short-Term Trading Policy” below. For Federal income tax purposes, a share exchange is a taxable event and a capital gain or loss may be realized. Please consult your tax adviser or other Financial Intermediary before making an exchange request. |
Transfer Shares to Another Financial Intermediary | Transfer to a participating Financial Intermediary |
You
may transfer your shares of the Fund only to another Financial Intermediary that has entered into an agreement with the Distributor. Certain shareholder services may not be available for the transferred shares. All future trading of these assets
must be coordinated by the receiving firm.
|
Transfer to a non-participating Financial Intermediary |
You
must either:
• Transfer your shares to an account with the Fund; or • Sell your shares, paying any applicable deferred sales charge. |
Automatic Investment Plan | Allows systematic investments on a periodic basis from your checking or savings account. | BlackRock’s AIP allows you to invest a specific amount on a periodic basis from your checking or savings account into your investment account. You may apply for this option upon account opening or by completing the Automatic Investment Plan application. The minimum investment amount for an automatic investment is $50 per portfolio. There is no AIP for Investor B Shares. |
Dividend Allocation Plan | Automatically invests your distributions into another BlackRock Fund of your choice pursuant to your instructions, without any fees or sales charges. | Dividend and capital gains distributions may be reinvested in your account to purchase additional shares or paid in cash. Using the Dividend Allocation Plan, you can direct your distributions to your bank account (checking or savings), to purchase shares of another fund at BlackRock without any fees or sales charges, or by check to a special payee. Please call (800) 441-7762 for details. If investing in another fund at BlackRock, the receiving fund must be open to new purchases. |
EZ Trader | Allows an investor to purchase or sell Investor Shares by telephone or over the Internet through ACH. |
(NOTE:
This option is offered to shareholders whose accounts are held directly with BlackRock. Please speak with your Financial Intermediary if your account is held elsewhere.)
|
■ | Suspend the right of redemption if trading is halted or restricted on the NYSE or under other emergency conditions described in the Investment Company Act; |
■ | Postpone the date of payment upon redemption if trading is halted or restricted on the NYSE or under other emergency conditions described in the Investment Company Act or if a redemption request is made before the Fund has collected payment for the purchase of shares; |
■ | Redeem shares for property other than cash as may be permitted under the Investment Company Act; and |
■ | Redeem shares involuntarily in certain cases, such as when the value of a shareholder account falls below a specified level. |
Average Daily Net Assets |
Rate
of
Management Fee |
Not exceeding $1 billion | 0.60% |
In excess of $1 billion but not more than $3 billion | 0.56% |
In excess of $3 billion but not more than $5 billion | 0.54% |
In excess of $5 billion but not more than $10 billion | 0.52% |
In excess of $10 billion | 0.51% |
Portfolio Manager | Primary Role | Since | Title and Recent Biography |
Robert M. Shearer, CFA | Primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund’s portfolio, including setting the Fund’s overall investment strategy and overseeing the management of the Fund. | 1997 | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2006. |
Institutional | |||||
Year Ended July 31, | |||||
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
Per Share Operating Performance | |||||
Net asset value, beginning of year | $ 77.17 | $ 64.89 | $ 57.65 | $ 69.76 | $ 52.59 |
Net investment income 1 | 0.53 | 0.45 | 0.48 | 0.33 | 0.16 |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) | (25.35) | 12.61 | 7.21 | (12.09) | 17.01 |
Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | (24.82) | 13.06 | 7.69 | (11.76) | 17.17 |
Distributions from: 2 | |||||
Net investment income | (0.37) | (0.34) | (0.45) | (0.35) | — |
Net realized gain | (4.95) | (0.44) | — | — | — |
Total distributions | (5.32) | (0.78) | (0.45) | (0.35) | — |
Net asset value, end of year | $ 47.03 | $ 77.17 | $ 64.89 | $ 57.65 | $ 69.76 |
Total Return 3 | |||||
Based on net asset value | (32.68)% | 20.31% | 13.41% | (16.88)% | 32.65% |
Ratios to Average Net Assets | |||||
Total expenses | 0.83% | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0.85% | 0.80% |
Total expenses after fees waived and paid indirectly | 0.83% | 0.80% | 0.80% | 0.85% | 0.79% |
Net investment income | 0.89% | 0.64% | 0.76% | 0.56% | 0.25% |
Supplemental Data | |||||
Net assets, end of year (000) | $80,864 | $142,323 | $109,009 | $102,940 | $117,786 |
Portfolio turnover rate | 6% | 5% | 1% | 3% | 2% |
1 | Based on average shares outstanding. |
2 | Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations. |
3 | Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
Investor A | |||||
Year Ended July 31, | |||||
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
Per Share Operating Performance | |||||
Net asset value, beginning of year | $ 75.12 | $ 63.28 | $ 56.14 | $ 67.92 | $ 51.34 |
Net investment income (loss) 1 | 0.36 | 0.27 | 0.31 | 0.17 | (0.01) |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) | (24.65) | 12.27 | 7.04 | (11.78) | 16.59 |
Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | (24.29) | 12.54 | 7.35 | (11.61) | 16.58 |
Distributions from: 2 | |||||
Net investment income | (0.29) | (0.26) | (0.21) | (0.17) | — |
Net realized gain | (4.95) | (0.44) | — | — | — |
Total distributions | (5.24) | (0.70) | (0.21) | (0.17) | — |
Net asset value, end of year | $ 45.59 | $ 75.12 | $ 63.28 | $ 56.14 | $ 67.92 |
Total Return 3 | |||||
Based on net asset value | (32.87)% | 19.98% | 13.11% | (17.11)% | 32.29% |
Ratios to Average Net Assets | |||||
Total expenses | 1.10% | 1.06% | 1.07% | 1.12% | 1.07% |
Total expenses after fees waived and paid indirectly | 1.10% | 1.06% | 1.07% | 1.12% | 1.06% |
Net investment income (loss) | 0.62% | 0.39% | 0.51% | 0.30% | (0.01)% |
Supplemental Data | |||||
Net assets, end of year (000) | $198,816 | $313,210 | $293,272 | $295,462 | $406,230 |
Portfolio turnover rate | 6% | 5% | 1% | 3% | 2% |
1 | Based on average shares outstanding. |
2 | Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations. |
3 | Where applicable, excludes the effects of any sales charges and assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
Investor B | |||||
Year Ended July 31, | |||||
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
Per Share Operating Performance | |||||
Net asset value, beginning of year | $ 67.31 | $57.01 | $50.82 | $ 61.77 | $ 47.05 |
Net investment loss 1 | (0.11) | (0.24) | (0.14) | (0.24) | (0.44) |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) | (21.98) | 11.01 | 6.33 | (10.71) | 15.16 |
Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | (22.09) | 10.77 | 6.19 | (10.95) | 14.72 |
Distributions from: 2 | |||||
Net investment income | (0.05) | (0.03) | — | — | — |
Net realized gain | (4.95) | (0.44) | — | — | — |
Total distributions | (5.00) | (0.47) | — | — | — |
Net asset value, end of year | $ 40.22 | $67.31 | $57.01 | $ 50.82 | $ 61.77 |
Total Return 3 | |||||
Based on net asset value | (33.41)% | 19.01% | 12.18% | (17.73)% | 31.29% |
Ratios to Average Net Assets | |||||
Total expenses | 1.94% | 1.88% | 1.88% | 1.89% | 1.84% |
Total expenses after fees waived and paid indirectly | 1.94% | 1.88% | 1.88% | 1.89% | 1.83% |
Net investment loss | (0.21)% | (0.39)% | (0.26)% | (0.46)% | (0.78)% |
Supplemental Data | |||||
Net assets, end of year (000) | $ 1,468 | $3,861 | $5,970 | $ 9,365 | $18,036 |
Portfolio turnover rate | 6% | 5% | 1% | 3% | 2% |
1 | Based on average shares outstanding. |
2 | Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations. |
3 | Where applicable, excludes the effects of any sales charges and assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
Investor C | |||||
Year Ended July 31, | |||||
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | |
Per Share Operating Performance | |||||
Net asset value, beginning of year | $ 66.24 | $ 56.13 | $ 50.02 | $ 60.81 | $ 46.33 |
Net investment loss 1 | (0.08) | (0.24) | (0.15) | (0.24) | (0.45) |
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) | (21.62) | 10.86 | 6.26 | (10.55) | 14.93 |
Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | (21.70) | 10.62 | 6.11 | (10.79) | 14.48 |
Distributions from: 2 | |||||
Net investment income | (0.11) | (0.07) | — | — | — |
Net realized gain | (4.95) | (0.44) | — | — | — |
Total distributions | (5.06) | (0.51) | — | — | — |
Net asset value, end of year | $ 39.48 | $ 66.24 | $ 56.13 | $ 50.02 | $ 60.81 |
Total Return 3 | |||||
Based on net asset value | (33.38)% | 19.06% | 12.22% | (17.74)% | 31.25% |
Ratios to Average Net Assets | |||||
Total expenses | 1.88% | 1.84% | 1.86% | 1.89% | 1.85% |
Total expenses after fees waived and paid indirectly | 1.88% | 1.84% | 1.86% | 1.89% | 1.84% |
Net investment loss | (0.16)% | (0.39)% | (0.27)% | (0.47)% | (0.80)% |
Supplemental Data | |||||
Net assets, end of year (000) | $57,026 | $92,811 | $89,618 | $98,585 | $143,712 |
Portfolio turnover rate | 6% | 5% | 1% | 3% | 2% |
1 | Based on average shares outstanding. |
2 | Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations. |
3 | Where applicable, excludes the effects of any sales charges and assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
■ | Access the BlackRock website at http://www.blackrock.com/edelivery; and |
■ | Log into your account. |
Class Ticker | Ticker Symbol | |
Investor A
Shares
|
MDGRX | |
Investor B
Shares
|
MBGRX | |
Investor C
Shares
|
MCGRX | |
Institutional
Shares
|
MAGRX |
BlackRock
Natural Resources Trust |
|
144A Securities | X |
Asset-Backed Securities | |
Asset-Based Securities | X |
Precious Metal-Related Securities | X |
Bank Loans | |
Borrowing and Leverage | X |
Cash Flows; Expenses | X |
Cash Management | X |
Collateralized Debt Obligations | |
Collateralized Bond Obligations | |
Collateralized Loan Obligations | |
Commercial Paper | |
Commodity-Linked Derivative Instruments and Hybrid Instruments | |
Qualifying Hybrid Instruments | |
Hybrid Instruments Without Principal Protection | |
Limitations on Leverage | |
Counterparty Risk | |
Convertible Securities | X |
Cyber Security Issues | X |
Debt Securities | X |
Depositary Receipts (ADRs, EDRs and GDRs) | X |
Derivatives | X |
Hedging | X |
Indexed and Inverse Securities | X |
Swap Agreements | X |
Credit Default Swap Agreements and Similar Instruments | |
Contracts for Difference | X |
Credit Linked Securities | |
Interest Rate Transactions and Swaptions | |
Total Return Swap Agreements | |
Types of Options | X |
Options on Securities and Securities Indexes | X |
Call Options | X |
Put Options | X |
Risks Associated with Options | X |
BlackRock
Natural Resources Trust |
|
Futures | X |
Risks Associated with Futures | X |
Foreign Exchange Transactions | X |
Forward Foreign Exchange Transactions | X |
Currency Futures | X |
Currency Options | X |
Currency Swaps | X |
Limitations on Currency Transactions | X |
Risk Factors in Hedging Foreign Currency Risk | X |
Risk Factors in Derivatives | X |
Credit Risk | X |
Currency Risk | X |
Leverage Risk | X |
Liquidity Risk | X |
Correlations Risk | X |
Index Risk | X |
Additional Risk Factors of OTC Transactions; Limitations on the Use of OTC Derivatives | X |
Distressed Securities | |
Dollar Rolls | |
Equity Securities | X |
Exchange Traded Notes (“ETNs”) | X |
Foreign Investment Risks | X |
Foreign Market Risk | X |
Foreign Economy Risk | X |
Currency Risk and Exchange Risk | X |
Governmental Supervision and Regulation/Accounting Standards | X |
Certain Risks of Holding Fund Assets Outside the United States | X |
Publicly Available Information | X |
Settlement Risk | X |
Funding Agreements | |
Guarantees | |
Illiquid or Restricted Securities | X |
Inflation-Indexed Bonds | X |
Inflation Risk | X |
Information Concerning the Indexes | |
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index | |
Russell Indexes | |
MSCI Indexes | |
FTSE Indexes | |
Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) Risk | X |
Investment Grade Debt Obligations | X |
Investment in Emerging Markets | X |
Brady Bonds | |
Investment in Other Investment Companies | X |
Junk Bonds | |
Lease Obligations | |
Liquidity Management | X |
Master Limited Partnerships | X |
Merger Transaction Risk | |
Mezzanine Investments | |
Money Market Obligations of Domestic Banks, Foreign Banks and Foreign Branches of U.S. Banks | |
Mortgage-Related Securities | |
Mortgage-Backed Securities | |
Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (“CMOs”) | |
Adjustable Rate Mortgage Securities |
BlackRock
Natural Resources Trust |
|
CMO Residuals | |
Stripped Mortgage-Backed Securities | |
Tiered Index Bonds | X |
TBA Commitments | |
Municipal Bonds | |
General Obligation Bonds | |
Revenue Bonds | |
Private Activity Bonds (“PABs”) | |
Participation Notes | |
Pay-in-kind Bonds | X |
Portfolio Turnover Rates | |
Preferred Stock | X |
Real Estate Related Securities | X |
Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITS”) | X |
Repurchase Agreements and Purchase and Sale Contracts | X |
Reverse Repurchase Agreements | |
Rights Offerings and Warrants to Purchase | X |
Securities Lending | X |
Securities of Smaller or Emerging Growth Companies | X |
Short Sales | |
Sovereign Debt | |
Standby Commitment Agreements | X |
Stripped Securities | |
Structured Notes | |
Supranational Entities | X |
Trust Preferred Securities | |
U.S. Government Obligations | X |
U.S. Treasury Obligations | X |
Utility Industries | X |
When Issued Securities, Delayed Delivery Securities and Forward Commitments | X |
Yields and Ratings | X |
Zero Coupon Securities |
Trustees | Experience, Qualifications and Skills | |
Independent Trustees | ||
James H. Bodurtha | James H. Bodurtha has served for more than 22 years on the boards of registered investment companies, most recently as a member of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and its predecessor funds, including as Chairman of the Board of certain of the legacy-Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, L.P. (“MLIM”) funds. Prior thereto, Mr. Bodurtha was counsel to and a member of the Board of a smaller bank-sponsored mutual funds group. In addition, Mr. Bodurtha is a member of, and previously served as Chairman of, the Independent Directors Council and served for 11 years as an independent director on the Board of Governors of the Investment Company Institute. He also has more than 30 years of executive management and business experience through his work as a consultant and as the chairman of the board of a privately-held company. In addition, Mr. Bodurtha has more than 20 years of legal experience as a corporate attorney and partner in a law firm, where his practice included counseling registered investment companies and their boards. | |
Bruce R. Bond | Bruce R. Bond has served for approximately 17 years on the board of registered investment companies, having served as a member of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and its predecessor funds, including the legacy-BlackRock funds and the State Street Research Mutual Funds. He also has executive management and business experience, having served as president and chief executive officer of several communications networking companies. Mr. Bond also has corporate governance experience from his service as a director of a computer equipment company. | |
Valerie G. Brown | Valerie G. Brown has more than 25 years of experience in the securities and financial services industry, having served as a director and committee chair for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, for 4 years, and as a director and vice chairman of the board of the Financial Services Institute, for 5 years. She also has oversight and executive management experience, having served for more than four years as the chief executive officer and director of a brokerage and investment adviser firm. |
Trustees | Experience, Qualifications and Skills | |
Donald W. Burton | Donald W. Burton has served for approximately 28 years on the board of registered investment companies, having served as a member of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and its predecessor funds, including the legacy-MLIM and Raymond James funds. He also has more than 30 years of investment management business experience, having served as the managing general partner of an investment partnership, and a member of the Investment Advisory Council of the Florida State Board of Administration. In addition, Mr. Burton has corporate governance experience, having served as a board member of publicly-held financial, health-care, and telecommunications companies. | |
The
Honorable
Stuart E. Eizenstat |
The Honorable Stuart E. Eizenstat has served for approximately 13 years on the board of registered investment companies, having served as a member of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and its predecessor funds, including the legacy-BlackRock funds. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business & Agricultural Affairs, and Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury during the Clinton Administration. He was Director of the White House Domestic Policy Staff and Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Carter. In addition, Mr. Eizenstat is a practicing attorney and Head of the International Practice at a major international law firm. Mr. Eizenstat has business and executive management experience and corporate governance experience through his service on the advisory boards and corporate boards of publicly-held consumer, energy, environmental delivery, metallurgical and telecommunications companies. Mr. Eizenstat has been determined by the Audit Committee to be an audit committee financial expert, as such term is defined in the applicable SEC rules. | |
Kenneth A. Froot | Kenneth A. Froot has served for approximately 19 years on the boards of registered investment companies, having served as a member of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and its predecessor funds, including the legacy-MLIM funds. The Equity-Bond Board benefits from Mr. Froot’s years of academic experience, having served as a professor of finance at Harvard University since 1992 and teaching courses on capital markets, international finance, and risk management. Mr. Froot has published numerous articles and books on a range of topics, including, among others, the financing of risk, risk management, the global financial system, currency analysis, foreign investing, and investment style strategies. He has served as a director of research for Harvard Business School for approximately 6 years, and as a managing partner of an investment partnership. In addition, Mr. Froot has served as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and served on the staff of the US President’s Council of Economic Advisers and the Economic Advisory Board of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. | |
Robert M. Hernandez | Robert M. Hernandez has served for approximately 20 years on the board of registered investment companies, having served as Chairman of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Audit and Nominating/Governance Committees of its predecessor funds, including certain legacy-BlackRock funds. Mr. Hernandez has business and executive experience through his service as group president, chief financial officer, Chairman and vice chairman, among other positions, of publicly-held energy, steel, and metal companies. He has served as a director of other public companies in various industries throughout his career. He also has broad corporate governance experience, having served as a board member of publicly-held energy, insurance, chemicals, metals and electronics companies. Mr. Hernandez has been determined by the Audit Committee to be an audit committee financial expert, as such term is defined in the applicable SEC rules. |
Trustees | Experience, Qualifications and Skills | |
John F. O’Brien | John F. O’Brien has served for approximately 9 years on the board of registered investment companies, having served as a member of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and its predecessor funds, including the legacy-MLIM funds. He also has investment management experience, having served as the president, director, and chairman of the board of an investment management firm and a life insurance company. Mr. O’Brien also has broad corporate governance and audit committee experience, having served as a board member and audit committee member of publicly-held financial, medical, energy, chemical, retail, life insurance, and auto parts manufacturing companies, and as a director of a not-for-profit organization. | |
Donald C. Opatrny | Donald C. Opatrny has more than 39 years of business, oversight and executive experience, including through his service as president, director and investment committee chair for academic and not-for-profit organizations, and his experience as a partner, managing director and advisory director at Goldman Sachs for 32 years. He also has investment management experience as a board member of Athena Capital Advisors LLC. | |
Roberta Cooper Ramo | Roberta Cooper Ramo has served for approximately 14 years on the board of registered investment companies, having served as a member of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and its predecessor funds, including the legacy-MLIM funds. She is a practicing attorney and shareholder in a law firm for more than 30 years. Ms. Ramo has oversight experience through her service as chairman of the board of a retail company and as president of the American Bar Association and the American Law Institute and as President, for 2 years, and Member of the Board of Regents, for 6 years, of the University of New Mexico. She also has corporate governance experience, having served on the boards of United New Mexico Bank and the First National Bank of New Mexico and on the boards of non-profit organizations. | |
David H. Walsh | David H. Walsh has served for approximately 11 years on the board of registered investment companies, having served as a member of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and its predecessor funds, including the legacy-MLIM funds. Mr. Walsh has investment management experience, having served as a consultant with Putnam Investments (“Putnam”) from 1993 to 2003, and employed in various capacities at Putnam from 1971 to 1992. He has oversight experience, serving as the director of an academic institute, and a board member of various not-for-profit organizations. | |
Fred G. Weiss | Fred G. Weiss has served for approximately 16 years on the board of registered investment companies, having served as a member of the Board of the Equity-Bond Complex and its predecessor funds, including as Chairman of the board of certain of the legacy-MLIM funds. He also has more than 30 years of business and executive management experience, having served in senior executive positions of two public companies where he was involved in both strategic planning and corporate development, as Chairman of the Committee on Investing Employee Assets (CIBA) and as a managing director of an investment consulting firm. Mr. Weiss also has corporate governance experience, having served as a board member of a publicly-held global technology company and a pharmaceutical company, and as a director of a not-for-profit foundation. Mr. Weiss has been determined by the Audit Committee to be an audit committee financial expert, as such term is defined in the applicable SEC rules. |
Trustees | Experience, Qualifications and Skills | |
Interested Trustees | ||
Robert Fairbairn | Robert Fairbairn has more than 20 years of experience with BlackRock, Inc. and over 28 years in finance and asset management. In particular, Mr. Fairbairn’s positions as Senior Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc., Global Head of BlackRock’s Retail and iShares businesses, and Member of BlackRock’s Global Executive and Global Operating Committees provide the Board with a wealth of practical business knowledge and leadership. In addition, Mr. Fairbairn has global investment management and oversight experience through his former positions as Head of BlackRock’s Global Client Group and Chairman of BlackRock’s international businesses. Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Fairbairn was Senior Vice President and Head of the EMEA Pacific region at MLIM, a member of the MLIM Executive Committee, head of the EMEA Sales Division and Chief Operating Officer of the EMEA Pacific region. | |
Henry Gabbay | Henry Gabbay’s many years of experience in finance provide the Board with a wealth of practical business knowledge and leadership. In particular, Mr. Gabbay’s experience as a Consultant for and Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc., Chief Administrative Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and President of BlackRock Funds provides the Fund with greater insight into the analysis and evaluation of both its existing investment portfolios and potential future investments as well as enhanced oversight of its investment decisions and investment valuation processes. In addition, Mr. Gabbay’s former positions as Chief Administrative Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and as Treasurer of certain closed-end funds in the BlackRock Fund Complex provide the Board with direct knowledge of the operations of the BlackRock-advised Funds and their investment adviser. Mr. Gabbay’s previous service on and long-standing relationship with the Board also provide him with a specific understanding of the BlackRock-advised Funds, their operations, and the business and regulatory issues facing the BlackRock-advised Funds. | |
John M. Perlowski | Mr. Perlowski’s experience as Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2009, as the Head of BlackRock Global Fund Services since 2009, and as President and Chief Executive Officer of the BlackRock-advised Funds provides him with a strong understanding of the BlackRock-advised Funds, their operations, and the business and regulatory issues facing the BlackRock-advised Funds. Mr. Perlowski’s prior position as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Product Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and his former service as Treasurer and Senior Vice President of the Goldman Sachs Mutual Funds and as Director of the Goldman Sachs Offshore Funds provides the Board with the benefit of his experience with the management practices of other financial companies. |
Name,
Address
and Year of Birth |
Position(s)
Held with Fund |
Length
of Time Served 1,2 |
Principal
Occupation(s)
During Past Five Years |
Number
of
BlackRock- Advised Registered Investment Companies (“RICs”) Consisting of Investment Portfolios (“Portfolios”) Overseen |
Public
Company and Investment Company Directorships |
|||||
Independent Trustees | ||||||||||
James
H. Bodurtha
3
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2007 to present | Director, The China Business Group, Inc. (consulting and investing firm) from 1996 to 2013 and Executive Vice President thereof from 1996 to 2003; Chairman of the Board, Berkshire Holding Corporation since 1980. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None | |||||
Bruce
R. Bond
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2007 to present | Trustee and Member of the Governance Committee, State Street Research Mutual Funds from 1997 to 2005; Board Member of Governance, Audit and Finance Committee, Avaya Inc. (computer equipment) from 2003 to 2007. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None | |||||
Valerie
G. Brown
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2015 to present | Chief Executive Officer and Director, Cetera Financial Group (broker-dealer and registered investment adviser services) from 2010 to 2014; Director and Vice Chairman of the Board, Financial Services Institute (trade organization) from 2009 to 2014; Director and Committee Chair, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (trade organization) from 2006 to 2014. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None | |||||
Donald
W. Burton
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2002 to present | Managing General Partner, The Burton Partnership, LP (an investment partnership) since 1979; Managing General Partner, The Burton Partnership (QP), LP (an investment partnership) since 2000; Managing General Partner, The South Atlantic Venture Funds from 1983 to 2012; Director, IDology, Inc. (technology solutions) since 2006; Director, Knology, Inc. (telecommunications) from 1996 to 2012; Director, Capital Southwest (financial) from 2006 to 2012. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None | |||||
Honorable
Stuart E. Eizenstat
4
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2007 to present | Partner and Head of International Practice, Covington and Burling LLP (law firm) since 2001; International Advisory Board Member, The Coca-Cola Company from 2002 to 2011; Advisory Board Member, Veracity Worldwide LLC (risk management) from 2007 to 2012; Member of the International Advisory Board GML Ltd. (energy) since 2003; Advisory Board Member, BT Americas (telecommunications) from 2004 to 2009. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | Alcatel-Lucent (telecommunications); Global Specialty Metallurgical; UPS Corporation (delivery service) | |||||
Kenneth
A. Froot
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2007 to present | Professor, Harvard University from 1993 to 2012. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None |
Name,
Address
and Year of Birth |
Position(s)
Held with Fund |
Length
of Time Served 1,2 |
Principal
Occupation(s)
During Past Five Years |
Number
of
BlackRock- Advised Registered Investment Companies (“RICs”) Consisting of Investment Portfolios (“Portfolios”) Overseen |
Public
Company and Investment Company Directorships |
|||||
Robert
M. Hernandez
5
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2007 to present | Director, Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of USX Corporation (energy and steel business) from 1991 to 2001; Director, TE Connectivity (electronics) from 2006 to 2012. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | ACE Limited (insurance company); Eastman Chemical Company (chemicals) | |||||
John
F. O’Brien
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2005 to present | Chairman, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute since 2009 and Trustee thereof from 2003 to 2009. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | Cabot Corporation (chemicals); LKQ Corporation (auto parts manufacturing); TJX Companies, Inc. (retailer) | |||||
Donald
C. Opatrny
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2015 to present | Trustee, Member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Investment Committee, Cornell University since 2004; Member of the Board and Investment Committee, University School since 2007; Member of the Investment Committee, Mellon Foundation from 2009 to 2015; President and Trustee, the Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole since 2011; Director, Athena Capital Advisors LLC (investment management firm) since 2013; Trustee and Chair of the Investment Committee, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole since 2014; Trustee, Artstor (a Mellon Foundation affiliate) since 2010; President, Trustee and Member of the Investment Committee, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum from 2007 to 2014. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None | |||||
Roberta
Cooper Ramo
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2007 to present | Shareholder and Attorney, Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, P.A. (law firm) since 1993; Chairman of the Board, Cooper’s Inc. (retail) since 1999; Director, ECMC Group (service provider to students, schools and lenders) since 2001; President, The American Law Institute (non-profit) since 2008; Vice President, Santa Fe Opera (non-profit), since 2011; Chair, Think New Mexico (non-profit), since 2013. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None | |||||
David
H. Walsh
6
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2003 to present | Director, National Museum of Wildlife Art since 2007; Trustee, University of Wyoming Foundation from 2008 to 2012; Director, The American Museum of Fly Fishing since 1997. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None | |||||
Fred
G. Weiss
7
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 1998 to present | Managing Director, FGW Consultancy LLC (consulting and investment company) since 1997; Director, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research since 2000; Director, BTG International plc (medical technology commercialization company) from 2001 to 2007. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios |
Allergan
plc
(Pharmaceuticals) |
Name,
Address
and Year of Birth |
Position(s)
Held with Fund |
Length
of Time Served 1,2 |
Principal
Occupation(s)
During Past Five Years |
Number
of
BlackRock- Advised Registered Investment Companies (“RICs”) Consisting of Investment Portfolios (“Portfolios”) Overseen |
Public
Company and Investment Company Directorships |
|||||
Interested Trustees 8 | ||||||||||
Robert
Fairbairn
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2015 to present | Senior Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2010; Global Head of BlackRock’s Retail and iShares businesses since 2012; Member of BlackRock’s Global Executive and Global Operating Committees; Head of BlackRock’s Global Client Group from 2009 to 2012; Chairman of BlackRock’s international businesses from 2007 to 2010. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None | |||||
Henry
Gabbay
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee | 2007 to present | Consultant, BlackRock, Inc. from 2007 to 2008; Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. from 1989 to 2007; Chief Administrative Officer, BlackRock Advisors, LLC from 1998 to 2007; President of BlackRock Funds and BlackRock Allocation Target Shares (formerly, BlackRock Bond Allocation Target Shares) from 2005 to 2007 and Treasurer of certain closed-end funds in the BlackRock Fund Complex from 1989 to 2006. | 28 RICs consisting of 98 Portfolios | None | |||||
John
M. Perlowski
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Trustee, President and Chief Executive Officer | 2015 to present (Trustee), 2010 to present (President and Chief Executive Officer) | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2009; Head of BlackRock Global Fund Services since 2009; Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Product Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. from 2003 to 2009; Treasurer of Goldman Sachs Mutual Funds from 2003 to 2009 and Senior Vice President thereof from 2007 to 2009; Director of Goldman Sachs Offshore Funds from 2002 to 2009; Director of Family Resource Network (charitable foundation) since 2009. | 136 RICs consisting of 334 Portfolios | None |
1 | Each Trustee holds office until his or her successor is duly elected and qualifies or until his or her earlier death, resignation, retirement or removal as provided by the Fund’s by-laws or charter or statute. In no event may an Independent Trustee hold office beyond December 31 of the year in which he or she turns 75. In no event may an Interested Trustee hold office beyond December 31 of the year in which he or she turns 72. |
2 | Following the combination of MLIM and BlackRock, Inc. in September 2006, the various legacy MLIM and legacy BlackRock Fund boards were realigned and consolidated into three new Fund boards in 2007. As a result, although the chart shows certain Trustees as joining the Fund’s board in 2007, each Trustee first became a member of the board of trustees/directors of other legacy MLIM or legacy BlackRock Funds as follows: James H. Bodurtha, 1995; Bruce R. Bond, 2005; Donald W. Burton, 2002; Honorable Stuart E. Eizenstat, 2001; Kenneth A. Froot, 2005; Robert M. Hernandez, 1996; John F. O’Brien, 2005; Roberta Cooper Ramo, 1999; David H. Walsh, 2003 and Fred G. Weiss, 1998. |
3 | Chairman of the Compliance Committee. |
4 | Chairman of the Governance Committee. |
5 | Chairman of the Board of Trustees. |
6 | Chairman of the Performance Committee. |
7 | Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Audit Committee. |
8 | Messrs. Fairbairn and Perlowski are both “interested persons,” as defined in the Investment Company Act, of the Fund based on their positions with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates. Mr. Gabbay may be deemed an “interested person” of the Fund based on his former positions with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates. Mr. Gabbay does not currently serve as an officer or employee of BlackRock, Inc. or its affiliates or own any securities of BlackRock, Inc. or The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. Mr. Gabbay is a non-management Interested Trustee. |
Name,
Address
and Year of Birth |
Position(s)
Held with the Fund |
Length
of
Time Served 1 |
Principal
Occupation(s)
During Past Five Years |
Number
of
BlackRock- Advised Registered Investment Companies (“RICs”) Consisting of Investment Portfolios (“Portfolios”) Overseen |
Public
Company and Investment Company Directorships |
|||||
Trust Officers | ||||||||||
Jennifer
McGovern
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Vice President | 2014 to present | Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2011; Head of Product Structure and Oversight for BlackRock’s U.S. Wealth Advisory Group since 2013; Vice President of BlackRock, Inc. from 2008 to 2010. | 61 RICs consisting of 259 Portfolios | None | |||||
Neal
J. Andrews
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Chief Financial Officer | 2007 to present | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2006; Senior Vice President and Line of Business Head of Fund Accounting and Administration at PNC Global Investment Servicing (U.S.) Inc. from 1992 to 2006. | 136 RICs consisting of 334 Portfolios | None | |||||
Jay
M. Fife
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Treasurer | 2007 to present | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2007; Director of BlackRock, Inc. in 2006; Assistant Treasurer of the MLIM and Fund Asset Management, L.P. advised funds from 2005 to 2006; Director of MLIM Fund Services Group from 2001 to 2006. | 136 RICs consisting of 334 Portfolios | None | |||||
Charles
Park
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Chief Compliance Officer | 2014 to present | Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer for the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Equity-Bond Complex, the Equity-Liquidity Complex and the Closed-End Complex from 2014 to 2015; Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Equity-Bond Complex, the Equity-Liquidity Complex and the Closed-End Complex since 2014; Principal of and Chief Compliance Officer for iShares ® Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC since 2012 and BlackRock Fund Advisors (“BFA”) since 2006; Chief Compliance Officer for the BFA-advised iShares exchange traded funds since 2006; Chief Compliance Officer for BlackRock Asset Management International Inc. since 2012. | 141 RICs consisting of 657 Portfolios | None | |||||
Fernanda
Piedra
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer | 2015 to present | Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2014; Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer and Regional Head of Financial Crime for the Americas at BlackRock, Inc. since 2014; Head of Regulatory Changes and Remediation for the Asset Wealth Management Division of Deutsche Bank from 2010 to 2014; Vice President of Goldman Sachs (Anti-Money Laundering/Suspicious Activities Group) from 2004 to 2010. |
141
RICs consisting of
657 Portfolios |
None | |||||
Benjamin
Archibald
55 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10055 |
Secretary | 2012 to present | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2014; Director of BlackRock, Inc. from 2010 to 2013; Secretary of the iShares exchange traded funds since 2015: Secretary of the BlackRock-advised mutual funds since 2012. | 61 RICs consisting of 259 Portfolios | None |
1 | Officers of the Fund serve at the pleasure of the Board of Trustees. |
Name of Trustee |
Aggregate
Dollar
Range of Equity Securities in the Fund |
Aggregate
Dollar
Range of Equity Securities in Supervised Funds |
||
Interested Trustees: | ||||
Robert
Fairbairn
|
None | $50,001 - $100,000 | ||
Henry
Gabbay
|
None | Over $100,000 | ||
John M.
Perlowski
|
None | Over $100,000 | ||
Independent Trustees: | ||||
James H.
Bodurtha
|
None | Over $100,000 | ||
Bruce R.
Bond
|
None | Over $100,000 | ||
Valerie G.
Brown
|
None | Over $100,000 | ||
Donald W.
Burton
|
Over $100,000 | Over $100,000 | ||
Stuart E.
Eizenstat
|
None | Over $100,000 | ||
Kenneth A.
Froot
|
None | $50,001 - $100,000 | ||
Robert M.
Hernandez
|
None | Over $100,000 | ||
John F.
O’Brien
|
None | Over $100,000 | ||
Donald C.
Opatrny
|
None | None | ||
Roberta Cooper
Ramo
|
$10,001 - $50,000 | Over $100,000 | ||
David H.
Walsh
|
Over $100,000 | Over $100,000 | ||
Fred G.
Weiss
|
None | Over $100,000 |
1 | Each of Messrs. Fairbairn and Perlowski was appointed to serve as a Trustee of the Fund effective January 1, 2015. |
2 | Each of Ms. Brown and Mr. Opatrny was appointed to serve as a Trustee of the Fund effective as of the close of business on May 13, 2015. |
Name 1 |
Aggregate
Compensation from the Fund |
Estimated
Annual
Benefits Upon Retirement |
Aggregate
Compensation from the Trust and Other BlackRock- Advised Funds |
|||
Interested Trustees: 2 | ||||||
Paul L.
Audet
3
|
None | None | None | |||
Robert
Fairbairn
4
|
None | None | None | |||
Laurence D.
Fink
3
|
None | None | None | |||
Henry
Gabbay
|
$1,509 | None | $640,000 | |||
John M.
Perlowski
4
|
None | None | None |
Name 1 |
Aggregate
Compensation from the Fund |
Estimated
Annual
Benefits Upon Retirement |
Aggregate
Compensation from the Trust and Other BlackRock- Advised Funds |
|||
Independent Trustees: | ||||||
James H.
Bodurtha
5
|
$2,001 | None | $340,000 | |||
Bruce R.
Bond
|
$1,922 | None | $305,000 | |||
Valerie G.
Brown
6
|
$375 | None | None | |||
Donald W.
Burton
|
$1,922 | None | $305,000 | |||
Honorable Stuart E.
Eizenstat
7
|
$2,001 | None | $340,000 | |||
Kenneth A.
Froot
|
$1,922 | None | $280,000 | |||
Robert M.
Hernandez
8
|
$2,181 | None | $420,000 | |||
John F.
O’Brien
|
$1,922 | None | $305,000 | |||
Donald C.
Opatrny
6
|
$375 | None | None | |||
Roberta Cooper
Ramo
|
$1,922 | None | $305,000 | |||
David H.
Walsh
9
|
$2,001 | None | $340,000 | |||
Fred G.
Weiss
10
|
$2,080 | None | $375,000 |
1 | For the number of BlackRock-advised funds from which each Trustee receives compensation see the Biographical Information Chart beginning on page I-12. |
2 | Messrs, Fairbairn and Perlowski receive no compensation from the BlackRock-advised Funds for their service as a Trustee. Mr. Gabbay receives compensation from the BlackRock-advised Funds for his services as a non-management Interested Trustee. Mr. Gabbay began receiving compensation from the Fund for his service as a Trustee effective January 1, 2009. |
3 | Each of Messrs. Audet and Fink resigned as a Trustee of the Fund and as director or trustee of all of the BlackRock-advised Funds effective December 31, 2014. |
4 | Each of Messrs. Fairbairn and Perlowski was appointed to serve as a Trustee of the Fund effective January 1, 2015. |
5 | Chairman of the Compliance Committee. |
6 | Each of Ms. Brown and Mr. Opatrny was appointed to serve as a Trustee of the Fund effective as of the close of business May 13, 2015. |
7 | Chairman of the Governance Committee. |
8 | Chairman of the Board of Trustees. |
9 | Chairman of the Performance Oversight Committee. |
10 | Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Audit Committee. |
Average Daily Net Assets |
Rate
of
Management Fee |
|
Not exceeding $1
billion
|
0.60% | |
In excess of $1 billion but not more than $3
billion
|
0.56% | |
In excess of $3 billion but not more than $5
billion
|
0.54% | |
In excess of $5 billion but not more than $10
billion
|
0.52% | |
In excess of $10
billion
|
0.51% |
Fiscal Year Ended July 31, | |||||
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | |||
Paid to the
Manager
|
$2,560,297 | $3,161,680 | $3,061,900 | ||
Waived by the
Manager
1
|
$8,780 | $3,576 | $3,547 |
1 | The Manager may waive a portion of the Fund’s management fee in connection with the Trust’s investment in an affiliated money market fund. |
Fiscal Year Ended July 31, | Paid to BIM | |
2015
|
N/A | |
2014
|
$2,121,917 1 | |
2013
|
$2,263,459 |
1 | The information shown is for the period from August 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014. |
Number
of Other Accounts Managed
and Assets by Account Type |
Number
of Other Accounts and
Assets for Which Advisory Fee is Performance-Based |
|||||
Name of Portfolio Manager |
Other
Registered Investment Companies |
Other
Pooled Investment Vehicles |
Other
Accounts |
Other
Registered Investment Companies |
Other
Pooled Investment Vehicles |
Other
Accounts |
Robert M. Shearer, CFA | 12 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Portfolio Manager | Dollar Range | |
Robert M. Shearer,
CFA
|
$500,001—$1,000,000 |
Fiscal Year Ended July 31, | |||||
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | |||
Paid to the
Manager
|
$13,782 | $13,533 | $17,192 |
Fiscal Year Ended July 31, | |||||
2015 | 2014 | 2013 | |||
Paid to State
Street
|
$93,759 | $116,604 | $102,070 | ||
Paid to the
Manager
|
$ 4,633 | $ 5,168 | $ 5,294 |
Investor A Shares | ||||||||
For the Fiscal Year Ended July 31, |
Gross
Sales
Charges Collected |
Sales
Charges
Retained by BRIL |
Sales
Charges
Paid to Affiliates |
CDSCs
Received on
Redemption of Load-Waived Shares |
||||
2015
|
$370,808 | $25,077 | $25,077 | $ 707 | ||||
2014
|
$181,911 | $14,654 | $14,654 | $ 25 | ||||
2013
|
$173,078 | $12,718 | $12,718 | $21,079 |
Investor B 1 Shares | ||||
For the Fiscal Year Ended July 31, |
CDSCs
Received
by BRIL |
CDSCs
Paid to
Affiliates |
||
2015
|
$ 1,196 | $ 1,196 | ||
2014
|
$ 5,066 | $ 5,066 | ||
2013
|
$10,092 | $10,092 |
Investor C Shares | ||||
For the Fiscal Year Ended July 31, |
CDSCs
Received
by BRIL |
CDSCs
Paid to
Affiliates |
||
2015
|
$5,656 | $5,656 | ||
2014
|
$5,671 | $5,671 | ||
2013
|
$5,920 | $5,920 |
1 | Additional Investor B CDSCs payable to the Fund’s previous distributor may have been waived or converted to a contingent obligation in connection with a shareholder’s participation in certain fee-based programs. |
Class Name |
Paid
to the
Distributor |
|
Investor A
Shares
|
$606,853 | |
Investor B
Shares
|
$ 24,564 | |
Investor C
Shares
|
$726,938 |
Investor
A
Shares |
|
Net
Assets
|
$198,815,678 |
Number of Shares
Outstanding
|
4,360,680 |
Net Asset Value Per Share (net assets divided by number of shares
outstanding)
|
$45.59 |
Sales Charge (for Investor A shares: 5.25% of offering price; 5.54% of net asset value per
share)
1
|
$2.53 |
Offering
Price
|
$48.12 |
1 | Rounded to the nearest one-hundredth percent; assumes maximum sales charge is applicable. |
Fiscal Year Ended July 31, |
Aggregate
Brokerage
Commissions Paid |
Commissions
Paid
to Affiliates |
||
2015
|
$50,030 | $0 |
Fiscal Year Ended July 31, |
Aggregate
Brokerage
Commissions Paid |
Commissions
Paid
to Affiliates |
||
2014
|
$68,454 | $0 | ||
2013
|
$42,647 | $0 |
Amount
of Commissions
Paid to Brokers for Providing Research Services |
Amount
of Brokerage
Transactions Involved |
||||
$47,010 | $76,707,682 |
Fiscal Year Ended July 31, | Amount Paid | |
2015
|
$1,934 | |
2014
|
$5,473 | |
2013
|
$ 0 |
Name | Address | Percent | Class | |||
*Merrill
Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith
Incorporated |
4800
Deer Lake Drive East
Jacksonville, FL 32246-6484 |
30.81% | Investor A Shares | |||
*Charles Schwab & Co Inc |
101
Montgomery St.
San Francisco, CA 94104 |
16.15% | Investor A Shares | |||
*NFS LLC FEBO |
499
Washington Blvd 4th Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07310-2055 |
9.11% | Investor A Shares | |||
*Pershing LLC |
1
Pershing Plaza
Jersey City, NJ 07399-0001 |
5.19% | Investor A Shares | |||
*Merrill
Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith
Incorporated |
4800
Deer Lake Drive East
Jacksonville, FL 32246-6484 |
37.46% | Investor B Shares | |||
*NFS LLC FEBO |
499
Washington Blvd 4th Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07310-2055 |
12.06% | Investor B Shares | |||
*Pershing LLC |
1
Pershing Plaza
Jersey City, NJ 07399-0001 |
11.02% | Investor B Shares | |||
*LPL Financial |
4707
Excutive Drive
San Diego, CA 92121 |
6.67% | Investor B Shares | |||
*First Clearing, LLC |
2801
Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103 |
5.81% | Investor B Shares | |||
*Merrill
Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith
Incorporated |
4800
Deer Lake Drive East
Jacksonville, FL 32246-6484 |
49.01% | Investor C Shares | |||
*Morgan Stanley & Co. |
Harborside
Financial Center
Plaza II 3rd Floor Jersey City, NJ 07311 |
8.72% | Investor C Shares |
Name | Address | Percent | Class | |||
*Pershing LLC |
1
Pershing Plaza
Jersey City, NJ 07399-0001 |
5.60% | Investor C Shares | |||
*Raymond James |
880
Carillon Parkway
St. Petersburg, FL 33716 |
5.57% | Investor C Shares | |||
*First Clearing, LLC |
2801
Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103 |
5.38% | Investor C Shares | |||
*UBS WM USA |
499
Washington Blvd 9th Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07310-2055 |
5.07% | Investor C Shares | |||
*Merrill
Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith
Incorporated |
4800
Deer Lake Drive East
Jacksonville, FL 32246-6484 |
37.52% | Institutional Shares | |||
*Raymond James |
880
Carillon Parkway
St. Petersburg, FL 33716 |
7.99% | Institutional Shares | |||
*NFS LLC FEBO |
499
Washington Blvd 4th Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07310-2055 |
7.57% | Institutional Shares | |||
*UBS WM USA |
499
Washington Blvd 9th Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07310-2055 |
7.55% | Institutional Shares | |||
*First Clearing, LLC |
2801
Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103 |
6.39% | Institutional Shares | |||
*Morgan Stanley & Co. |
Harborside
Financial Center
Plaza II 3rd Floor Jersey City, NJ 07311 |
5.44% | Institutional Shares |
* | Record holder that does not beneficially hold the shares. |
• | Junk bonds may be issued by less creditworthy companies. These securities are vulnerable to adverse changes in the issuer’s industry and to general economic conditions. Issuers of junk bonds may be unable to meet their interest or principal payment obligations because of an economic downturn, specific issuer developments or the unavailability of additional financing. |
• | The issuers of junk bonds may have a larger amount of outstanding debt relative to their assets than issuers of investment grade bonds. If the issuer experiences financial stress, it may be unable to meet its debt obligations. The issuer’s ability to pay its debt obligations also may be lessened by specific issuer developments, or the |
unavailability of additional financing. Issuers of high yield securities are often in the growth stage of their development and/or involved in a reorganization or takeover. | |
• | Junk bonds are frequently ranked junior to claims by other creditors. If the issuer cannot meet its obligations, the senior obligations are generally paid off before the junior obligations, which will potentially limit a Fund’s ability to fully recover principal or to receive interest payments when senior securities are in default. Thus, investors in high yield securities have a lower degree of protection with respect to principal and interest payments then do investors in higher rated securities. |
• | Junk bonds frequently have redemption features that permit an issuer to repurchase the security from a Fund before it matures. If an issuer redeems the junk bonds, a Fund may have to invest the proceeds in bonds with lower yields and may lose income. |
• | Prices of junk bonds are subject to extreme price fluctuations. Negative economic developments may have a greater impact on the prices of junk bonds than on those of other higher rated fixed-income securities. |
• | Junk bonds may be less liquid than higher rated fixed-income securities even under normal economic conditions. Under certain economic and/or market conditions, a Fund may have difficulty disposing of certain high yield securities due to the limited number of investors in that sector of the market. There are fewer dealers in the junk bond market, and there may be significant differences in the prices quoted for junk bonds by the dealers, and such quotations may not be the actual prices available for a purchase or sale. Because junk bonds are less liquid, judgment may play a greater role in valuing certain of a Fund’s portfolio securities than in the case of securities trading in a more liquid market. |
• | The secondary markets for high yield securities are not as liquid as the secondary markets for higher rated securities. The secondary markets for high yield securities are concentrated in relatively few market makers and participants in the markets are mostly institutional investors, including insurance companies, banks, other financial institutions and mutual funds. In addition, the trading volume for high yield securities is generally lower than that for higher rated securities and the secondary markets could contract under adverse market or economic conditions independent of any specific adverse changes in the condition of a particular issuer. Under certain economic and/or market conditions, a Fund may have difficulty disposing of certain high yield securities due to the limited number of investors in that sector of the market. An illiquid secondary market may adversely affect the market price of the high yield security, which may result in increased difficulty selling the particular issue and obtaining accurate market quotations on the issue when valuing a Fund’s assets. Market quotations on high yield securities are available only from a limited number of dealers, and such quotations may not be the actual prices available for a purchase or sale. When the secondary market for high yield securities becomes more illiquid, or in the absence of readily available market quotations for such securities, the relative lack of reliable objective data makes it more difficult to value a Fund’s securities, and judgment plays a more important role in determining such valuations. |
• | A Fund may incur expenses to the extent necessary to seek recovery upon default or to negotiate new terms with a defaulting issuer. |
• | The junk bond markets may react strongly to adverse news about an issuer or the economy, or to the perception or expectation of adverse news, whether or not it is based on fundamental analysis. Additionally, prices for high yield securities may be affected by legislative and regulatory developments. These developments could adversely affect a Fund’s net asset value and investment practices, the secondary market for high yield securities, the financial condition of issuers of these securities and the value and liquidity of outstanding high yield securities, especially in a thinly traded market. For example, federal legislation requiring the divestiture by federally insured savings and loan associations of their investments in high yield bonds and limiting the deductibility of interest by certain corporate issuers of high yield bonds adversely affected the market in the past. |
• | The rating assigned by a rating agency evaluates the issuing agency’s assessment of the safety of a non-investment grade security’s principal and interest payments, but does not address market value risk. Because such ratings of the ratings agencies may not always reflect current conditions and events, in addition to using recognized rating agencies and other sources, the sub-adviser performs its own analysis of the issuers whose non-investment grade securities a Fund holds. Because of this, the Fund’s performance may depend more on the sub-adviser’s own credit analysis than in the case of mutual funds investing in higher-rated securities. |
(a) | U.S. dollar-denominated obligations issued or supported by the credit of U.S. or foreign banks or savings institutions with total assets in excess of $1 billion (including assets of domestic and foreign branches of such banks); |
(b) | high quality commercial paper and other obligations issued or guaranteed by U.S. and foreign corporations and other issuers rated (at the time of purchase) A-2 or higher by S&P, Prime-2 or higher by Moody’s or F-2 or higher by Fitch, as well as high quality corporate bonds rated (at the time of purchase) A or higher by those rating agencies; |
(c) | unrated notes, paper and other instruments that are of comparable quality to the instruments described in (b) above as determined by the Fund’s Manager; |
(d) | asset-backed securities (including interests in pools of assets such as mortgages, installment purchase obligations and credit card receivables); |
(e) | securities issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. Government or by its agencies or authorities and related custodial receipts; |
(f) | dollar-denominated securities issued or guaranteed by foreign governments or their political subdivisions, agencies or authorities; |
(g) | funding agreements issued by highly-rated U.S. insurance companies; |
(h) | securities issued or guaranteed by state or local governmental bodies; |
(i) | repurchase agreements relating to the above instruments; |
(j) | municipal bonds and notes whose principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the U.S. Government or one of its agencies or instrumentalities or which otherwise depend directly or indirectly on the credit of the United States; |
(k) | fixed and variable rate notes and similar debt instruments rated MIG-2, VMIG-2 or Prime-2 or higher by Moody’s, SP-2 or A-2 or higher by S&P, or F-2 or higher by Fitch; |
(l) | tax-exempt commercial paper and similar debt instruments rated Prime-2 or higher by Moody’s, A-2 or higher by S&P, or F-2 or higher by Fitch; |
(m) | municipal bonds rated A or higher by Moody’s, S&P or Fitch; |
(n) | unrated notes, paper or other instruments that are of comparable quality to the instruments described above, as determined by the Fund’s Manager under guidelines established by the Board; and |
(o) | municipal bonds and notes which are guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. Government or an agency or instrumentality thereof or which otherwise depend directly or indirectly on the credit of the United States. |
• | Portfolio Characteristics: Portfolio characteristics include sector allocation, credit quality breakdown, maturity distribution, duration and convexity measures, average credit quality, average maturity, average coupon, top 10 holdings with percent of the fund held, average market capitalization, capitalization range, ROE, P/E, P/B, P/CF, P/S, and EPS. |
• | Portfolio Holdings: Portfolio holdings include issuer name, CUSIP, ticker symbol, total shares and market value for equity portfolios and issuer name, CUSIP, ticker symbol, coupon, maturity current face value and market value for fixed income portfolios. Other information that will be treated as portfolio holdings for purposes of the Guidelines includes but is not limited to quantity, SEDOL, market price, yield, WAL, duration and convexity as of a specific date. For derivatives, indicative data may also be provided, including but not limited to, pay leg, receive leg, notional amount, reset frequency, and trade counterparty. |
Open-End Mutual Funds (Excluding Money Market Funds) | |||
Time Periods (Calendar Days) | |||
Prior
to 5
Calendar Days After Month-End |
5-20
Calendar
Days After Month-End |
20 Calendar Days After Month-End To Date of Public Filing | |
Portfolio
Holdings |
Cannot disclose without non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) approval. | May disclose to shareholders, prospective shareholders, intermediaries, consultants and third-party data providers (e.g., Lipper, Morningstar and Bloomberg), except Global Allocation funds* (40 calendar days after quarter-end based on the Fund’s fiscal year end). If portfolio holdings are disclosed to one party, they must also be disclosed to all other parties requesting the same information. | |
Portfolio
Characteristics |
Cannot disclose without non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and CCO approval* | May disclose to shareholders, prospective shareholders, intermediaries, consultants and third-party data providers (e.g., Lipper, Morningstar and Bloomberg). If portfolio characteristics are disclosed to one party, they must also be disclosed to all other parties requesting the same information. | |
*Global Allocation: For purposes of portfolio holdings, Global Allocation funds include BlackRock Global Allocation Fund, Inc., BlackRock Global Allocation Portfolio of BlackRock Series Fund, Inc. and BlackRock Global Allocation V.I. Fund of BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc. Information on certain portfolio characteristics of BlackRock Global Allocation Portfolio and BlackRock Global Allocation V.I. Fund are available, upon request, to insurance companies that use these funds as underlying investments (and to advisers and sub-advisers of funds invested in BlackRock Global Allocation Portfolio and BlackRock Global Allocation V.I. Fund that serve as underlying investments) in their variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies on a weekly basis (or such other period as may be determined to be appropriate). Disclosure of such characteristics of these two funds constitutes a disclosure of Confidential Information and is being made for reasons deemed appropriate by BlackRock and in accordance with the requirements set forth in the Guidelines. |
Money Market Funds | ||
Time Periods (Calendar Days) | ||
Prior
to 5 Calendar Days
After Month-End |
5
Calendar Days After
Month-End to Date of Public Filing |
|
Portfolio
Holdings |
Cannot
disclose without non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and CCO approval except the following portfolio holdings information for BlackRock Liquidity Funds, BlackRock Cash Funds, Funds For Institutions and certain BlackRock retail Funds (and
any other Funds approved by portfolio management and the CCO) may be released as follows:
• Weekly portfolio holdings information released on the website at least one business day after week-end. |
May disclose to shareholders, prospective shareholders, intermediaries, consultants and third-party data providers. If portfolio holdings are disclosed to one party, they must also be disclosed to all other parties requesting the same information. |
Portfolio
Characteristics |
Cannot
disclose without non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and CCO approval except the following information may be released on the Fund’s website daily (although generally will be released T+1):
• Mark-to-market net asset value (“NAV”) • Yields, SEC yields, WAM, current assets • Other information as may be required by Rule 2a-7 |
May disclose to shareholders, prospective shareholders, intermediaries, consultants and third-party data providers. If portfolio characteristics are disclosed to one party, they must also be disclosed to all other parties requesting the same information. |
• | Data on NAVs, asset levels (by total Fund and share class), accruals, yields, capital gains, dividends and fund returns (net of fees by share class) are generally available to shareholders, prospective shareholders, consultants, and third-party data providers upon request, as soon as such data is available. |
• | Data on number of shareholders (total and by share class), and benchmark returns (including performance measures such as standard deviation, information ratio, Sharpe ratio, alpha, and beta), are generally available to shareholders, prospective shareholders, consultants, and third-party data providers as soon as such data is released after month-end. |
• | No Approval Required to Release Confidential Information: Confidential Information may be disclosed to the Fund’s Board of Directors and its counsel, outside counsel for the Fund, the Fund’s auditors and to certain third-party service providers (i.e., fund administrator, custodian, proxy voting service) for which a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement is in place with such service providers. |
• | CCO Approval Required to Release Confidential Information: For the avoidance of doubt, with respect to Confidential Information, the Fund’s CCO or his or her designee may authorize subject in the case of (ii) and (iii) to a confidentiality or non-disclosure arrangement (“Required Approval”): |
(i) | the preparation and posting of the Fund’s portfolio holdings and/or portfolio characteristics to its website on a more frequent basis than authorized above; |
(ii) | the disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings to third-party service providers not noted above; and |
(iii) | the disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings and/or portfolio characteristics to other parties for legitimate business purposes, including, but not limited to: |
(i) | disclosure to an investment adviser that is in merger or acquisition talks with BlackRock for due diligence purposes; |
(ii) | disclosure to a newly-hired investment adviser or sub-adviser prior to its commencing its duties; |
(iii) | disclosure to a Third-Party Feeder Fund consistent with their agreements with their Master Portfolio 1 ; or |
(iv) | disclosure to a rating or ranking organization. |
• | Non-Disclosure Agreements: Third-party recipients of Confidential Information are subject to a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement (unless excluded from such requirement pursuant to the Guidelines). Employees must contact BlackRock’s Legal & Compliance Department to obtain a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement before disclosing Confidential Information of this type. The style of any confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement (or other written undertaking) may be tailored to suit the particular circumstances of each request for Confidential Information. |
If a Fund or a service provider discloses Confidential Information to a selected third party for a legitimate business purpose that has received Required Approval, such third party shall be required to agree in writing to keep such information confidential and not to trade on the basis of such information. | |
• | Format of Information Provided Externally: Any information provided to Fund shareholders, prospective Fund shareholders and consultants may be communicated via email in PDF format, a read only Excel file, Aladdin or databases through a secure website. |
• | Tracking of Information Provided to Third Parties: Employees that make arrangements with third parties in connection with disclosing portfolio holdings or portfolio characteristics must keep track of all such disclosures made to third parties. |
• | Fund Fact Sheets are available to shareholders, prospective shareholders, intermediaries and consultants on a monthly or quarterly basis no earlier than the fifth calendar day after the end of a month or quarter. |
• | Money Market Performance Reports are available to shareholders, prospective shareholders, intermediaries and consultants by the tenth calendar day of the month (and on a one day lag for certain institutional funds). They contain monthly money market Fund performance, rolling 12-month average and benchmark performance. |
1. | Fund’s Board of Directors and, if necessary, Independent Directors’ counsel and Fund counsel. |
2. | Fund’s Transfer Agent |
3. | Fund’s Custodian |
4. | Fund’s Administrator, if applicable. |
5. | Fund’s independent registered public accounting firm. |
6. | Fund’s accounting services provider |
7. | Independent rating agencies — Morningstar, Inc., Lipper Inc., S&P, Moody’s, Fitch |
8. | Information aggregators — Markit on Demand, Thomson Financial and Bloomberg, eVestments Alliance, Informa/PSN Investment Solutions, Crane Data, and iMoneyNet. |
9. | Sponsors of 401(k) plans that include BlackRock-advised funds — E.I. Dupont de Nemours and Company, Inc. |
10. | Consultants for pension plans that invest in BlackRock-advised funds — Rocaton Investment Advisors, LLC, Mercer Investment Consulting, Callan Associates, Brockhouse & Cooper, Cambridge Associates, Morningstar/Investorforce, Russell Investments (Mellon Analytical Solutions) and Wilshire Associates. |
11. | Pricing Vendors — Reuters Pricing Service, Bloomberg, FT Interactive Data (FT IDC), ITG, Telekurs Financial, FactSet Research Systems, Inc., JP Morgan Pricing Direct (formerly Bear Stearns Pricing Service), Standard and Poor’s Security Evaluations Service, Lehman Index Pricing, Bank of America High Yield Index, Loan Pricing Corporation (LPC), LoanX, Super Derivatives, IBOXX Index, Barclays Euro Gov’t Inflation-Linked Bond Index, JPMorgan Emerging & Developed Market Index, Reuters/WM Company, Nomura BPI Index, Japan Securities Dealers Association, Valuation Research Corporation and Murray, Devine & Co., Inc. |
12. | Portfolio Compliance Consultants — Oracle/i-Flex Solutions, Inc. |
13. | Third-party feeder funds — Hewitt Money Market Fund, Hewitt Series Fund, Hewitt Financial Services LLC, Homestead, Inc., Transamerica, State Farm Mutual Fund and Sterling Capital Funds and their respective boards, sponsors, administrators and other service providers. |
14. | Affiliated feeder funds — BlackRock Cayman Prime Money Market Fund, Ltd. and BlackRock Cayman Treasury Money Market Fund Ltd., and their respective boards, sponsors, administrators and other service providers. |
15. | Other — Investment Company Institute, Mizuho Asset Management Co., Ltd. and Nationwide Fund Advisors. |
All
Funds Except
Balanced Capital and Basic Value |
Balanced Capital and Basic Value | ||
Less than
$3,000,000
|
1.00% | 0.75% | |
$3 million but less than $15
million
|
0.50% | 0.50% | |
$15 million and
above
|
0.25% | 0.25% |
Years
Since Purchase
Payment Made |
CDSC
as a Percentage
of Dollar Amount Subject to Charge* |
|
0 – 1
|
4.50% | |
1 – 2
|
4.00% | |
2 – 3
|
3.50% | |
3 – 4
|
3.00% | |
4 – 5
|
2.00% | |
5 – 6
|
1.00% | |
6 and thereafter
|
None |
* | The percentage charge will apply to the lesser of the original cost of the shares being redeemed or the proceeds of your redemption. Shares acquired through reinvestment of dividends are not subject to a deferred sales charge. Not all BlackRock funds have identical deferred sales charge schedules. If you exchange your shares for shares of another fund, the original charge will apply. |
Aaa | Obligations rated Aaa are judged to be of the highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk. |
Aa | Obligations rated Aa are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk. |
A | Obligations rated A are judged to be upper-medium grade and are subject to low credit risk. |
Baa | Obligations rated Baa are judged to be medium-grade and subject to moderate credit risk and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics. |
Ba | Obligations rated Ba are judged to be speculative and are subject to substantial credit risk. |
B | Obligations rated B are considered speculative and are subject to high credit risk. |
Caa | Obligations rated Caa are judged to be speculative of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk. |
Ca | Obligations rated Ca are highly speculative and are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest. |
C | Obligations rated C are the lowest rated and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest. |
P-1 | Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-1 have a superior ability to repay short-term debt obligations. |
P-2 | Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-2 have a strong ability to repay short-term debt obligations. |
P-3 | Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-3 have an acceptable ability to repay short-term obligations. |
NP | Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Not Prime do not fall within any of the Prime rating categories. |
MIG 1 | This designation denotes superior credit quality. Excellent protection is afforded by established cash flows, highly reliable liquidity support, or demonstrated broad-based access to the market for refinancing. |
MIG 2 | This designation denotes strong credit quality. Margins of protection are ample, although not as large as in the preceding group. |
MIG 3 | This designation denotes acceptable credit quality. Liquidity and cash-flow protection may be narrow, and market access for refinancing is likely to be less well-established. |
SG | This designation denotes speculative-grade credit quality. Debt instruments in this category may lack sufficient margins of protection. |
VMIG 1 | This designation denotes superior credit quality. Excellent protection is afforded by the superior short-term credit strength of the liquidity provider and structural and legal protections that ensure the timely payment of purchase price upon demand. |
VMIG 2 | This designation denotes strong credit quality. Good protection is afforded by the strong short-term credit strength of the liquidity provider and structural and legal protections that ensure the timely payment of purchase price upon demand. |
VMIG 3 | This designation denotes acceptable credit quality. Adequate protection is afforded by the satisfactory short-term credit strength of the liquidity provider and structural and legal protections that ensure the timely payment of purchase price upon demand. |
SG | This designation denotes speculative-grade credit quality. Demand features rated in this category may be supported by a liquidity provider that does not have an investment grade short-term rating or may lack the structural and/or legal protections necessary to ensure the timely payment of purchase price upon demand. |
• | Likelihood of payment — capacity and willingness of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on an obligation in accordance with the terms of the obligation; |
• | Nature of and provisions of the obligation, and the promise we impute; |
• | Protection afforded by, and relative position of, the obligation in the event of bankruptcy, reorganization, or other arrangement under the laws of bankruptcy and other laws affecting creditors’ rights. |
AAA | An obligation rated ‘AAA’ has the highest rating assigned by Standard & Poor’s. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is extremely strong. |
AA | An obligation rated ‘AA’ differs from the highest-rated obligations only to a small degree. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is very strong. |
A | An obligation rated ‘A’ is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher-rated categories. However, the obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is still strong. |
BBB | An obligation rated ‘BBB’ exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. |
BB;
B; CCC; CC; and C |
Obligations rated ‘BB’, ‘B’, ‘CCC’, ‘CC’, and ‘C’ are regarded as having significant speculative characteristics. ‘BB’ indicates the least degree of speculation and ‘C’ the highest. While such obligations will likely have some quality and protective characteristics, these may be outweighed by large uncertainties or major exposures to adverse conditions. |
BB | An obligation rated ‘BB’ is less vulnerable to nonpayment than other speculative issues. However, it faces major ongoing uncertainties or exposure to adverse business, financial, or economic conditions, which could lead to the obligor’s inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. |
B | An obligation rated ‘B’ is more vulnerable to nonpayment than obligations rated ‘BB’, but the obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. Adverse business, financial, or economic conditions will likely impair the obligor’s capacity or willingness to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. |
CCC | An obligation rated ‘CCC’ is currently vulnerable to nonpayment, and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. In the event of adverse business, financial, or economic conditions, the obligor is not likely to have the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. |
CC | An obligation rated ‘CC’ is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment. The ‘CC’ rating is used when a default has not yet occurred, but Standard & Poor’s expects default to be a virtual certainty, regardless of the anticipated time to default. |
C | An obligation rated ‘C’ is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment, and the obligation is expected to have lower relative seniority or lower ultimate recovery compared to obligations that are rated higher. |
D | An obligation rated ‘D’ is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the ‘D’ rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless Standard & Poor’s believes that such payments will be made within five business days in the absence of a stated grace period or within the earlier of the stated grace period or 30 calendar days. The ‘D’ rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation’s rating is lowered to ‘D’ if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer. |
NR | This indicates that no rating has been requested, or that there is insufficient information on which to base a rating, or that Standard & Poor’s does not rate a particular obligation as a matter of policy. |
A-1 | A short-term obligation rated ‘A-1’ is rated in the highest category by Standard & Poor’s. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is strong. Within this category, certain obligations are designated with a plus sign (+). This indicates that the obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on these obligations is extremely strong. |
A-2 | A short-term obligation rated ‘A-2’ is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher rating categories. However, the obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is satisfactory. |
A-3 | A short-term obligation rated ‘A-3’ exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. |
B | A short-term obligation rated ‘B’ is regarded as vulnerable and has significant speculative characteristics. The obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitments; however, it faces major ongoing uncertainties which could lead to the obligor’s inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitments. |
C | A short-term obligation rated ‘C’ is currently vulnerable to nonpayment and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. |
D | A short-term obligation rated ‘D’ is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the ‘D’ rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless Standard & Poor’s believes that such payments will be made within any stated grace period. However, any stated grace period longer than five business days will be treated as five business days. The ‘D’ rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of a similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation’s rating is lowered to ‘D’ if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer. |
• | Amortization schedule — the larger the final maturity relative to other maturities, the more likely it will be treated as a note; and |
• | Source of payment — the more dependent the issue is on the market for its refinancing, the more likely it will be treated as a note. |
Standard & Poor’s municipal short-term note rating symbols are as follows: |
SP-1 | Strong capacity to pay principal and interest. An issue determined to possess a very strong capacity to pay debt service is given a plus (+) designation. |
SP-2 | Satisfactory capacity to pay principal and interest, with some vulnerability to adverse financial and economic changes over the term of the notes. |
SP-3 | Speculative capacity to pay principal and interest. |
AAA | Highest credit quality. ‘AAA’ ratings denote the lowest expectation of credit risk. They are assigned only in cases of exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is highly unlikely to be adversely affected by foreseeable events. |
AA | Very high credit quality. ‘AA’ ratings denote expectations of very low credit risk. They indicate very strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events. |
A | High credit quality. ‘A’ ratings denote expectations of low credit risk. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered strong. This capacity may, nevertheless, be more vulnerable to adverse business or economic conditions than is the case for higher ratings. |
BBB | Good credit quality. ‘BBB’ ratings indicate that expectations of credit risk are currently low. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered adequate but adverse business or economic conditions are more likely to impair this capacity. |
BB | Speculative. ‘BB’ ratings indicate an elevated vulnerability to credit risk, particularly in the event of adverse changes in business or economic conditions over time; however, business or financial alternatives may be available to allow financial commitments to be met. |
B | Highly speculative. ‘B’ ratings indicate that material credit risk is present. |
CCC | Substantial credit risk. ‘CCC’ ratings indicate that substantial credit risk is present. |
CC | Very high levels of credit risk. ‘CC’ ratings indicate very high levels of credit risk. |
C | Exceptionally high levels of credit risk. ‘C’ indicates exceptionally high levels of credit risk. |
F1 | Highest short-term credit quality. Indicates the strongest intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments; may have an added “+” to denote any exceptionally strong credit feature. |
F2 | Good short-term credit quality. Good intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments. |
F3 | Fair short-term credit quality. The intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments is adequate. |
B | Speculative short-term credit quality. Minimal capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, plus heightened vulnerability to near term adverse changes in financial and economic conditions. |
C | High short-term default risk. Default is a real possibility. |
RD | Restricted default. Indicates an entity that has defaulted on one or more of its financial commitments, although it continues to meet other financial obligations. Typically applicable to entity ratings only. |
D | Default. Indicates a broad-based default event for an entity, or the default of a short-term obligation. |
1 | iShares MSCI All Peru Capped ETF, iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF, iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF and iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF have separate Fund Proxy Voting Policies. |
• | Boards and directors |
• | Auditors and audit-related issues |
• | Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions |
• | Remuneration and benefits |
• | Social, ethical and environmental issues |
• | General corporate governance matters |
• | establishing an appropriate corporate governance structure; |
• | supporting and overseeing management in setting strategy; |
• | ensuring the integrity of financial statements; |
• | making decisions regarding mergers, acquisitions and disposals; |
• | establishing appropriate executive compensation structures; and |
• | addressing business issues including social, ethical and environmental issues when they have the potential to materially impact company reputation and performance. |
• | current employment at the company or a subsidiary; |
• | former employment within the past several years as an executive of the company; |
• | providing substantial professional services to the company and/or members of the company’s management; |
• | having had a substantial business relationship in the past three years; |
• | having, or representing a shareholder with, a substantial shareholding in the company; |
• | being an immediate family member of any of the aforementioned; and |
• | interlocking directorships. |
• | BlackRock has adopted a proxy voting oversight structure whereby the Corporate Governance Committees oversee the voting decisions and other activities of the Corporate Governance Group, and particularly its activities with respect to voting in the relevant region of each Corporate Governance Committee’s jurisdiction. |
• | The Corporate Governance Committees have adopted Guidelines for each region, which set forth the firm’s views with respect to certain corporate governance and other issues that typically arise in the proxy voting context. The Corporate Governance Committees receive periodic reports regarding the specific votes cast by the Corporate Governance Group and regular updates on material process issues, procedural changes and other matters of concern to the Corporate Governance Committees. |
• | BlackRock’s Global Corporate Governance Oversight Committee oversees the Global Head, the Corporate Governance Group and the Corporate Governance Committees. The Global Corporate Governance Oversight Committee conducts a review, at least annually, of the proxy voting process to ensure compliance with BlackRock’s risk policies and procedures. |
• | BlackRock maintains a reporting structure that separates the Global Head and Corporate Governance Group from employees with sales responsibilities. In addition, BlackRock maintains procedures intended to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers or dissident shareholders are managed consistently and without regard to BlackRock’s relationship with the issuer of the proxy or dissident shareholder. Within the normal course of business, the Global Head or Corporate Governance Group may engage directly with BlackRock clients, and with employees with sales responsibilities, in discussions regarding general corporate governance policy matters, and to otherwise ensure that proxy-related client service levels are met. The Global Head or Corporate Governance Group does not discuss any specific voting matter with a client prior to the disclosure of the vote decision to all applicable clients after the shareholder meeting has taken place, except if the client is acting in the capacity as issuer of the proxy or dissident shareholder and is engaging through the established procedures independent of the client relationship. |
• | In certain instances, BlackRock may determine to engage an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest or as otherwise required by applicable law. The independent fiduciary may either vote such proxies or provide BlackRock with instructions as to how to vote such proxies. In the latter case, BlackRock votes the proxy in accordance with the independent fiduciary’s determination. Use of an independent fiduciary has been adopted for voting the proxies related to any company that is affiliated with BlackRock or any company that includes BlackRock employees on its board of directors. |
Exhibit
Number |
Description | |
1(a) | — | Declaration of Trust of the Registrant, dated April 12, 1985.(a) |
(b) | — | Amendment to Declaration of Trust of the Registrant, dated May 28, 1985.(a) |
(c) | — | Amendment to Declaration of Trust of the Registrant, dated October 3, 1988.(a) |
(d) | — | Instrument establishing Class A shares and Class B shares of the Registrant.(a) |
(e) | — | Amendment to Declaration of Trust of the Registrant, dated October 17, 1994, including Instrument establishing Class C and Class D shares of beneficial interest.(a) |
(f) | — | Form of Certification of Amendment to Declaration of Trust of the Registrant, dated November 1, 2000.(e) |
(g) | — | Form of Certification of Amendment to Declaration of Trust.(j) |
(h) | — | Form of Certificate of Establishment and Designation of Classes.(j) |
2 | — | Amended and Restated By-Laws of the Registrant, effective December 9, 2008.(o) |
3 | — | Instruments Defining Rights of Shareholders. Incorporated by reference to Exhibits 1 and 2 above. |
4(a) | — | Form of Investment Management Agreement between the Registrant and BlackRock Advisors, LLC.(j) |
(b) | — | Amendment No. 1 to the Investment Management Agreement.(b) |
5 | — | Form of Distribution Agreement between the Registrant and BlackRock Investments, Inc.(l) |
6 | — | None. |
7 | — | Form of Custodian Agreement between the Registrant and the Bank of New York.(g) |
8(a) | — | Form of Transfer Agency and Shareholder Services Agreement between the Registrant and BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc.(k) |
(b) | — | Form of Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement among the Registrant, a syndicate of banks and certain other parties.(c) |
(c) | — | Form of Amended and Restated Shareholders’ Administrative Services Agreement between the Registrant and BlackRock Advisors, Inc.(h) |
(d) | — | Form of Appendix A to Amended and Restated Shareholders’ Administrative Services Agreement between Registrant and BlackRock Advisors, LLP.(p) |
(e) | — | Form of Third Amended and Restated Securities Lending Agency Agreement between the Registrant and BlackRock Investment Management LLC.(i) |
(f) | — | Form of Administrative Services Agreement between the Registrant and State Street Bank and Trust Company.(q) |
(g) | — | Form of Amended Accounting Support Services Agreement between the Registrant and BlackRock Advisors, LLC.* |
9 | — | Opinion of Brown & Wood LLP, counsel for the Registrant, dated June 18, 1985.(d) |
10 | — | Consent of Deloitte & Touche LLP, independent registered public accounting firm for the Registrant.* |
11 | — | None. |
12 | — | None. |
13(a) | — | Form of Investor A Shares Distribution Plan.(l) |
(b) | — | Form of Investor B Shares Distribution Plan.(l) |
(c) | — | Form of Investor C Shares Distribution Plan.(l) |
14 | — | Amended and Restated Plan pursuant to Rule 18f3.(s) |
15(a) | — | Code of Ethics of the Registrant.(f) |
(b) | — | Code of Ethics of BlackRock Investments, LLC.(m) |
Exhibit
Number |
Description | |
(c) | — | Code of Ethics of BlackRock Advisors, LLC.(n) |
16 | — | Power of Attorney.(r) |
* | Filed herewith. |
(a) | Filed on November 27, 1995 as an Exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 11 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form N-1A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (File No. 2-97095) (the “Registration Statement”). |
(b) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 14(b) to Post-Effective Amendment No. 38 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of Merrill Lynch Bond Fund, Inc. (File No. 2-62329) filed on July 21, 2006. |
(c) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit h(13) to Amendment No. 67 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of Master Investment Portfolio (File No. 811-08162), filed on April 29, 2015. |
(d) | Filed on September 30, 1999 as an Exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 15 to the Registration Statement. |
(e) | Filed on November 1, 2000, as an Exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 17 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement. |
(f) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 15(a) to Post-Effective Amendment No. 48 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock Value Opportunities Fund, Inc. (File No. 2-60836), filed on July 28, 2014. |
(g) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 7 to Post-Effective Amendment No. 13 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of The Asset Program, Inc. (File No. 33-53887) filed on March 21, 2002. |
(h) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 8(i) to Post-Effective Amendment No. 35 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock EuroFund (File No. 33-04026) filed on October 26, 2012. |
(i) | Incorporated by Reference to Exhibit 8(d) to Post-Effective Amendment No. 41 of the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock California Municipal Opportunities Fund Of BlackRock California Municipal Series Trust (File No. 2-96581), filed on January 26, 2015. |
(j) | Filed on September 29, 2006 as an Exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 23 to the Registration Statement. |
(k) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 8(a) to Post-Effective Amendment No. 48 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock Series Fund, Inc. (File No. 2-69062) filed on April 18, 2014. |
(l) | Incorporated by reference to the identically numbered Exhibit to Post-Effective Amendment No. 27 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock Equity Dividend Fund (File No. 33-14517) filed on November 25, 2008. |
(m) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 15(b) to Post-Effective Amendment No. 48 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock Value Opportunities Fund, Inc. (File No. 2-60836), filed on July 28, 2014. |
(n) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 15(c) to Post-Effective Amendment No. 48 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock Value Opportunities Fund, Inc. (File No. 2-60836), filed on July 28, 2014. |
(o) | Filed on November 24, 2009 as an Exhibit 2 to Post-Effective Amendment No. 27 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A |
(p) | Incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 8(f) to Post-Effective Amendment No. 138 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock Funds II (File No. 333-142592), filed on October 31, 2014. |
(q) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 8(d) to Post-Effective Amendment No. 1 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of Merrill Lynch Focus Twenty Fund, Inc. (File No. 333-89775), filed on March 20, 2001. |
(r) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 16 to Post-Effective Amendment No. 34 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock Mid Cap Value Opportunities Series, Inc. (File No. 33-53887) filed on May 26, 2015. |
(s) | Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 14 of Post-Effective Amendment No. 51 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A of BlackRock Basic Value Fund, Inc. (File No. 002-58521), filed on February 3, 2015. |
Name | Position(s) and Office(s) with BRIL |
Position(s)
and
Office(s) with Registrant |
Robert Fairbairn | Chairman and Member, Board of Managers, Chief Executive Officer and Senior Managing Director | Trustee |
Anne Ackerley | Managing Director | None |
Matthew Mallow | General Counsel and Senior Managing Director | None |
Russell McGranahan | Secretary and Managing Director | None |
Ned Montenecourt | Chief Compliance Officer and Director | None |
Saurabh Pathak | Chief Financial Officer and Director | None |
Francis Porcelli | Managing Director and Member, Board of Managers | None |
Brenda Sklar | Managing Director | None |
Lisa Hill | Managing Director | None |
Joseph Craven | Managing Director | None |
Terri Slane | Director and Assistant Secretary | None |
Chris Nugent | Director | None |
Melissa Walker | Vice President and Assistant Secretary | None |
Richard Prager | Member, Board of Managers | None |
Christopher Vogel | Member, Board of Managers | None |
BlackRock
Natural Resources Trust
(Registrant) |
|
By: | /s/ John M. Perlowski |
(John
M. Perlowski,
President and Chief Executive Officer) |
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/s/
John M. Perlowski
(John M. Perlowski) |
Trustee,
President and Chief Executive Officer
(Principal Executive Officer) |
November 24, 2015 | ||
/s/
Neal J. Andrews
(Neal J. Andrews) |
Chief
Financial Officer
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
November 24, 2015 | ||
James
H. Bodurtha*
(James H. Bodurtha) |
Trustee | |||
Bruce
R. Bond*
(Bruce R. Bond) |
Trustee | |||
Valerie
G. Brown*
(Valerie G. Brown) |
Trustee | |||
Donald
W. Burton*
(Donald W. Burton) |
Trustee | |||
Stuart
E. Eizenstat*
(Stuart E. Eizenstat) |
Trustee | |||
Kenneth
A. Froot*
(Kenneth A. Froot) |
Trustee | |||
Robert
M. Hernandez*
(Robert M. Hernandez) |
Trustee | |||
John
F. O’Brien*
(John F. O’Brien) |
Trustee | |||
Donald
C. Opatrny*
(Donald C. Opatrny) |
Trustee | |||
Roberta
Cooper Ramo*
(Roberta Cooper Ramo) |
Trustee |
Signature | Title | Date | ||
David
H. Walsh*
(David H. Walsh) |
Trustee | |||
Fred
G. Weiss*
(Fred G. Weiss) |
Trustee | |||
Robert
Fairbairn*
(Robert Fairbairn) |
Trustee | |||
Henry
Gabbay*
(Henry Gabbay) |
Trustee | |||
*By:
/s/ Benjamin
Archibald
(Benjamin Archibald, Attorney-In-Fact) |
November 24, 2015 |
Exhibit
Number |
Description | |
8(g) | — | Form of Amended Accounting Support Services Agreement between the Registrant and BlackRock Advisors, LLC. |
10 | — | Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. |
Exhibit 8(g)
AMENDED ACCOUNTING SUPPORT SERVICES AGREEMENT
This Accounting Support Services Agreement is made as of June 6, 2008, amended as of February 2011 by and among BlackRock Advisors, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (BlackRock), and each entity listed on Schedule A hereto, together with any other entity which may from time to time become a party to this Agreement by execution of an Instrument of Accession substantially in the form attached as Exhibit 1 hereto (each a Fund and collectively, the Funds and together with BlackRock, the Parties) (the Agreement). The Agreement shall be effective as of January 1, 2011.
WITNESSETH:
WHEREAS, each Fund desires to memorialize the existing arrangement with BlackRock for BlackRock to furnish certain accounting support services, on the terms and conditions set forth herein;
WHEREAS, BlackRock and each Fund have entered into a separate Management Agreement (the Management Agreement) with respect to the Funds investment portfolios;
WHEREAS, each Fund is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) as a management investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the 1940 Act);
NOW, THEREFORE, for good and valuable consideration, the adequacy and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, and intending to be legally bound hereby, it is agreed between the Parties hereto as follows:
1. | Appointment . |
(a) Each Fund hereby appoints BlackRock to provide accounting support services with respect to the Funds as specified below, on the terms and for the periods set forth in this Agreement. BlackRock accepts such appointment and agrees to perform the services and duties set forth in this Agreement in return for reimbursement of its costs and expenses as provided for in this Agreement.
(b) In the event that a Fund establishes one or more additional series of shares with respect to which it desires to have BlackRock render services under the terms hereof, it shall so notify BlackRock and thereafter such series will be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, and shall be maintained and accounted for by BlackRock on a discrete basis.
2. Services and Duties . Pursuant to this Agreement, BlackRock agrees to perform the following accounting support services:
(a) BlackRock shall perform the following duties in the manner prescribed by each Funds charter document and currently effective registration statement (the Registration Statement) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the 1933 Act), and the 1940 Act relating to all portfolios and all amendments and supplements thereto as in effect from time to time, and further in accordance with such written procedures, as may be established between the Fund and BlackRock from time to time:
(1) | Perform calculations of certain Fund expenses, including the allocation of such expenses among the Funds where appropriate, and communicate such details to Fund service providers for processing in Fund accounting records; |
(2) | Oversee the application of the Funds policies for fair valuation of investment securities and prepare periodic reports to the Funds Boards of Trustees/Directors; |
(3) | Design, implement and periodically evaluate the Funds Disclosure Controls and Procedures as required by the 1940 Act, including the activities of the Funds Disclosure Committee and reporting to the Funds Boards of Trustees/Directors as necessary; |
(4) | Oversee relationships with banks related to leverage activities in which the Funds engage; negotiate terms of such lending arrangements; |
(5) | Provide support and data necessary for the execution of Fund year-end audits, including pricing and other investment security data required for the audit confirmation process; |
(6) | Prepare and submit documentation relative to the Funds accounts with non-U.S. custodian banks; |
(7) | Monitor class action events and review for Fund eligibility; prepare necessary documentation including obtaining necessary information from Fund service providers; ensure timely submission of claims by outside service providers; upon receipt of proceeds, allocate such proceeds among applicable Funds and analyze the tax character of such payments for proper tax treatment; |
(8) | In support of the Funds Audit Committees, oversee the relationship between the Funds and their independent accountants and ensure that audit and non-audit fees are pre-approved in accordance with the Funds pre-approval policies; |
(9) | Calculate and disseminate certain Fund performance measures not performed by other Fund service providers; |
(10) | Supply various normal and customary Fund statistical data, not provided by other Fund service providers, as required on an ongoing basis; |
(11) | From time to time, prepare analyses of proposed mergers involving the Fund, if any, and submit recommendations to the Funds Boards of Trustees/Directors; |
(12) | Provide such other accounting support services as may be required to enable each Fund to maintain its books and records in compliance with applicable laws and generally accepted accounting principles. |
(b) Consistent with the requirements of Rule 31a-3 under the 1940 Act, BlackRock agrees that all records which it maintains with respect to each Fund are the property of the Fund and further agrees to surrender promptly to the Fund any of such records upon the Funds request. Copies of any such records maintained by BlackRock will be provided by BlackRock to the Fund upon the Funds reasonable request and at BlackRocks expense. BlackRock further agrees to preserve for the periods prescribed by Rule 31a-2 under the 1940 Act the records required to be maintained by Rule 31a-1 under said Act but only to the extent that such records necessarily and specifically relate to the services required to be performed by BlackRock hereunder.
(c) BlackRock will provide information and documentation relating to the Funds or other assistance relating to such information and documentation as the Funds may reasonably request to help the Funds respond to any government or regulatory request made to the Funds, including but not limited to a subpoena or request for information.
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3. | Expenses and Compensation . |
(a) For the services provided pursuant to this Agreement and the related expenses assumed with respect to those services, the Funds, along with certain other products advised by BlackRock or an affiliate of BlackRock, will pay to BlackRock, on a quarterly basis, all costs incurred by it in performing the services and duties designated to it under this Agreement, up to a maximum amount equal to $[ ] annually. Such amount shall be allocated pro rata among the Funds, and such certain other products advised by BlackRock or an affiliate of BlackRock, based on the average end of month relative net assets for each calendar quarter. Any costs and related expenses incurred by BlackRock under this Agreement exceeding and above $[ ] will be borne by BlackRock.
(b) BlackRock hereby represents and warrants to the Funds that (i) the terms of this Agreement, (ii) the costs and expenses associated with this Agreement, and (iii) any benefits accruing to BlackRock (or any affiliate thereof) in connection with this Agreement, have been fully disclosed to the Board of Trustees/Directors of the Funds and that, if required by applicable law, such Board of Trustees/Directors has approved or will approve the terms of this Agreement, any such fees and expenses, and any such benefits.
4. Proprietary and Confidential Information . BlackRock shall treat confidentially and as proprietary information of the Funds all records and other information relating to the Funds, and the Funds prior, current or potential shareholders, and will not use such records and information for any purpose other than performance of its responsibilities and duties hereunder, except after prior notification to and approval in writing by each Fund, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld and may not be withheld where BlackRock may be exposed to civil or criminal contempt proceedings for failure to comply, when requested to divulge such information by duly constituted authorities, or when so requested by the Funds.
5. | Responsibility of BlackRock. |
(a) BlackRock shall exercise reasonable care and diligence in rendering its services under this Agreement. BlackRock is not liable for any loss suffered by the Funds in connection with the matters to which this Agreement relates, except a loss resulting from BlackRocks own willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or breach of this Agreement on its part in the performance of its duties under this Agreement. Any person, even though also an officer, director or employee of BlackRock, who may be or become an officer, employee or agent of the Funds, shall be deemed, when rendering services to the Funds or acting on any business of the Funds (other than services or business in connection with BlackRocks duties hereunder) to be rendering such services to or acting solely for the Funds and not as an officer, director or employee of BlackRock even though paid by it.
(b) Notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, BlackRock shall not be liable for any consequential, special or indirect losses or damages, regardless of whether the likelihood of such losses or damages was known by BlackRock.
(c) Notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, (i) BlackRock shall not be liable for losses, delays, failure, errors, interruption or loss of data occurring directly or indirectly by reason of circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including without limitation acts of God; action or inaction of civil or military authority: public enemy; war; terrorism; riot; fire; flood; sabotage; epidemics; labor disputes; civil commotion; interruption, loss or malfunction of utilities, transportation, computer or
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communications capabilities; insurrection; elements of nature; or non-performance by a third party; and (ii) BlackRock shall not be under any duty or obligation to inquire into nor shall it be liable for the validity or invalidity, authority or lack thereof, or truthfulness or accuracy or lack thereof, of any instruction, direction, notice, instrument or other information reasonably believed by it to be genuine.
(d) In performing its duties as described herein, BlackRock (i) will act in a manner not inconsistent with each Funds most recent Registration Statement and all amendments and supplements thereto (as presently in effect and as from time to time amended and supplemented) and resolutions of the Funds Board of Trustees/Directors known to BlackRock and (ii) will comply with all applicable requirements of the 1940 Act, of the Securities Act of 1933, of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and of any other laws, rules and regulations of governmental authorities having jurisdiction with respect to the duties to be performed by BlackRock hereunder to the extent that such requirements are applicable to the duties to be performed by BlackRock hereunder.
(e) The provisions of this Section 5 shall survive termination of this Agreement.
6. | Indemnification . |
(a) A Fund may, in the discretion of the Board of Trustees/Directors of the Fund, indemnify BlackRock, and each of BlackRocks directors, officers, employees, agents, associates and controlling persons and the directors, partners, members, officers, employees and agents thereof (including any individual who serves at BlackRocks request as director, officer, partner, member, trustee or the like of another entity) (each such person being an Indemnitee) against any liabilities and expenses, including amounts paid in satisfaction of judgments, in compromise or as fines and penalties, and counsel fees (all as provided in accordance with applicable state law) reasonably incurred by such Indemnitee in connection with the defense or disposition of any action, suit or other proceeding, whether civil or criminal, before any court or administrative or investigative body in which such Indemnitee may be or may have been involved as a party or otherwise or with which such Indemnitee may be or may have been threatened, while acting in any capacity set forth herein or thereafter by reason of such Indemnitee having acted in any such capacity, except with respect to any matter as to which such Indemnitee shall have been adjudicated not to have acted in good faith in the reasonable belief that such Indemnitees action was in the best interest of the Funds and furthermore, in the case of any criminal proceeding, so long as such Indemnitee had no reasonable cause to believe that the conduct was unlawful; provided, however, that (1) no Indemnitee shall be indemnified hereunder against any liability to a Fund or its shareholders or any expense of such Indemnitee arising by reason of (i) willful misfeasance, (ii) bad faith, (iii) gross negligence or (iv) reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of such Indemnitees position (the conduct referred to in such clauses (i) through (iv) being sometimes referred to herein as disabling conduct), (2) as to any matter disposed of by settlement or a compromise payment by such Indemnitee, pursuant to a consent decree or otherwise, no indemnification either for said payment or for any other expenses shall be provided unless there has been a determination that such settlement or compromise is in the best interests of a Fund and that such Indemnitee appears to have acted in good faith in the reasonable belief that such Indemnitees action was in the best interest of a Fund and did not involve disabling conduct by such Indemnitee and (3) with respect to any action, suit or other proceeding voluntarily prosecuted by any Indemnitee as plaintiff, indemnification shall be mandatory only if the prosecution of such action, suit or other proceeding by such Indemnitee was authorized by a majority of the full Board of Trustees/Directors of the Fund.
(b) A Fund may make advance payments in connection with the expenses of defending any action with respect to which indemnification might be sought hereunder if the Fund receives a written affirmation of the Indemnitees good faith belief that the standard of conduct necessary for indemnification has been met and a written undertaking to reimburse a Fund unless it is subsequently
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determined that such Indemnitee is entitled to such indemnification and if the Board of Trustees/Directors of the. Fund determine that the facts then known to them would not preclude indemnification. In addition, at least one of the following conditions must be met: (A) the Indemnitee shall provide security for such Indemnitee undertaking, (B) the Fund shall be insured against losses arising by reason of any unlawful advance, or (C) a majority of a quorum consisting of Trustees/Directors of the Fund who are neither interested persons of the Fund (as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act) nor parties to the proceeding (Disinterested Non Party Directors) or an independent legal counsel in a written opinion, shall determine, based on a review of readily available facts (as opposed to a full trial type inquiry), that there is reason to believe that the Indemnitee ultimately will be found entitled to indemnification.
(c) All determinations with respect to the standards for indemnification hereunder shall be made (1) by a final decision on the merits by a court or other body before whom the proceeding was brought that such Indemnitee is not liable or is not liable by reason of disabling conduct, or (2) in the absence of such a decision, by (i) a majority vote of a quorum of the Disinterested Non Party Directors of the Fund, or (ii) if such a quorum is not obtainable or, even if obtainable, if a majority vote of such quorum so directs, independent legal counsel in a written opinion. All determinations that advance payments in connection with the expense of defending any proceeding shall be authorized and shall be made in accordance with the immediately preceding clause (2) above.
(d) The rights accruing to any Indemnitee under these provisions shall not exclude any other right to which such Indemnitee may be lawfully entitled.
7. | Duration and Termination . |
(a) This Agreement shall become effective as of the date of its execution and delivery and shall continue in full force and effect for an initial term of one year with automatic one year renewals from year to year thereafter unless otherwise terminated in accordance with the provisions of this Section 7.
(b) This agreement may be terminated by a Fund or by BlackRock on sixty (60) days prior written notice to the other party.
8. Amendment of this Agreement . No provision of this Agreement may be changed, discharged or terminated orally, but only by an instrument in writing signed by the party against which enforcement of the change, discharge or termination is sought.
9. Assignment . BlackRock may assign its rights and duties hereunder to any of its affiliates, provided that BlackRock obtains the Funds prior written consent to such assignment.
10. Counterparts . This Agreement may be executed 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.
11. Further Actions . Each party agrees to perform such further acts and execute such further documents as are necessary to effectuate the purposes hereof.
12. | Miscellaneous . |
(a) Entire Agreement . This Agreement embodies the entire agreement and understanding between the parties relating to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings relating to the subject matter hereof, provided that the parties may embody in one or more separate documents their agreement, if any, with respect to delegated duties.
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(b) Notices . Any notice under this Agreement shall be in writing to the other party at such address as the other party may designate from time to time for the receipt of such notice and shall be deemed to be received on the earlier of the date actually received or on the fourth day after the postmark if such notice is mailed first class postage prepaid.
(c) Captions . The captions in this Agreement are included for convenience of reference only and in no way define or delimit any of the provisions hereof or otherwise affect their construction or effect.
(d) Information . BlackRock will provide such information and documentation as the Board of Trustees/Directors of the Funds may reasonably request in connection with services provided by BlackRock.
(e) Governing Law . This Agreement shall be deemed to be a contract made in the State of New York and governed by New York law, without regard to principles of conflicts of law.
(f) Partial Invalidity . If any provision of this Agreement shall be held or made invalid by a court decision, statute, rule or otherwise, the remainder of this Agreement shall not be affected thereby. Notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, if any provision of this Agreement relating directly or indirectly to the term of this Agreement shall be held or made invalid by a court decision, statute, rule or otherwise, the parties shall immediately negotiate in good faith in order to agree upon a new provision which is either (i) the economic equivalent of the invalid provision or (ii) acceptable to the party adversely affected by the invalidity of the prior provision.
(g) Successors and Assigns . This Agreement shall be binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors and permitted assigns.
(h) Facsimile Signatures . The facsimile signature of any party to this Agreement shall constitute the valid and binding execution hereof by such party.
(i) Systems . BlackRock shall retain title to and ownership of any and all of its own data bases, computer programs, screen formats, report formats, interactive design techniques, derivative works, inventions, discoveries, patentable or copyrightable matters, concepts, expertise, patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and other related legal rights utilized by BlackRock in connection with the services provided by BlackRock under this Agreement with respect to the Funds.
(j) Limitation on Services . Notwithstanding anything in this Agreement to the contrary, the services of BlackRock under this Agreement do not constitute, and shall not be construed as constituting, investment management services, legal advice or the provision of legal services for or on behalf of BlackRock or any other person.
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be executed by their officers designated below as of the date first written above.
BLACKROCK ADVISORS, LLC | ||
By: | ||
Name: Neal Andrews | ||
Title: Managing Director |
ON BEHALF OF EACH FUND LISTED IN SCHEDULE A HERETO,
By: |
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|
Name: John Perlowski | ||
Title: President and Chief Executive Officer |
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Exhibit 1
Instrument of Accession
Reference is hereby made to the Accounting Support Services Agreement (the Agreement) dated , 2008 by and between BLACKROCK ADVISORS, LLC (BlackRock) and each entity listed on Schedule A thereto or which has or shall become a signatory thereto by execution of an instrument of accession substantially in the form hereof. In order that it may become a party to the aforesaid Agreement, including, without limitation, any and all schedules and exhibits thereto, [Fund Name] agrees and binds itself to the terms and conditions thereof and acknowledges that by its execution and delivery of this Instrument it shall assume all of the obligations and shall be entitled to all of the rights of a Fund (as such term is defined in the Agreement), as if it were an original party thereto. This Instrument of Accession shall take effect and shall become a part of said Agreement immediately upon its execution and delivery.
Executed as of the date set forth below under the laws of the State of New York.
[NAME OF FUND]
By: |
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Name: | ||
Title: |
Accepted and agreed to:
BLACKROCK ADVISORS, LLC
By: |
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Name: | ||
Title: |
CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
We consent to the incorporation by reference in this Post-Effective Amendment No. 37 to Registration Statement No. 2-97095 on Form N-1A of our report dated September 22, 2015, relating to the financial statements and financial highlights of BlackRock Natural Resource Trust (the Fund), appearing in the Annual Report on Form N-CSR of the Fund for the year ended July 31, 2015. We also consent to the references to us under the headings Financial Highlights and Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm in the Prospectus and Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm and Financial Statements in the Statement of Additional Information, which are part of such Registration Statement.
/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP |
Boston, Massachusetts |
November 24, 2015 |