Prospectus

February 28, 2024

 

DIMENSIONAL ETF TRUST

         

 

 

Ticker:

 

Exchange:

         

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

 

DFAI

 

NYSE Arca, Inc.

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

 

DFIC

 

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

 

DISV

 

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

 

DFIS

 

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

 

DIHP

 

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

 

DFAE

 

NYSE Arca, Inc.

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

 

DEHP

 

NYSE Arca, Inc.

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

 

DFEV

 

NYSE Arca, Inc.

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

 

DFEM

 

NYSE Arca, Inc.

       

Dimensional World Equity ETF

 

DFAW

 

NYSE Arca, Inc.

       

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

 

DFGR

 

NYSE Arca, Inc.

 

This Prospectus describes the shares of the Portfolio which are for long term investors.

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.


 


 

Table of Contents

   

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

1

Investment Objective

1

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

1

Principal Investment Strategies

1

Principal Risks

2

Performance

4

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

5

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

5

Tax Information

5

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

6

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

7

Investment Objective

7

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

7

Principal Investment Strategies

7

Principal Risks

9

Performance

10

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

11

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

12

Tax Information

12

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

12

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

13

Investment Objective

13

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

13

Principal Investment Strategies

13

Principal Risks

15

Performance

16

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

17

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

18

Tax Information

18

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

18

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

19

Investment Objective

19

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

19

Principal Investment Strategies

19

Principal Risks

21

Performance

22

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

23

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

24

Tax Information

24


 

   

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

24

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

25

Investment Objective

25

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

25

Principal Investment Strategies

25

Principal Risks

26

Performance

28

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

29

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

29

Tax Information

29

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

29

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

30

Investment Objective

30

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

30

Principal Investment Strategies

30

Principal Risks

32

Performance

34

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

35

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

35

Tax Information

35

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

36

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

37

Investment Objective

37

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

37

Principal Investment Strategies

38

Principal Risks

39

Performance

41

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

42

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

42

Tax Information

42

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

42

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

43

Investment Objective

43

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

43

Principal Investment Strategies

43

Principal Risks

44

Performance

46

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

47

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

48

Tax Information

48


 

   

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

48

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

49

Investment Objective

49

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

49

Principal Investment Strategies

49

Principal Risks

51

Performance

53

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

54

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

54

Tax Information

54

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

54

Dimensional World Equity ETF

55

Investment Objective

55

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

55

Principal Investment Strategies

56

Principal Risks

57

Performance

59

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

59

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

59

Tax Information

59

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

60

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

61

Investment Objective

61

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

61

Principal Investment Strategies

62

Principal Risks

63

Performance

64

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

65

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

66

Tax Information

66

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

66

Additional Information on Investment Objectives and Policies

67

Investment Terms Used in the Prospectus

67

International Core ETF

67

International Core Equity 2 ETF

68

International Small Cap Value ETF and International Small Cap ETF

69

International High Profitability ETF

71

Emerging Markets Core ETF

72

Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

73

Emerging Markets Value ETF

74


 

   

Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF

76

World Equity ETF

77

Global Real Estate ETF

78

Approved Markets

79

Market Capitalization Weighted Approach

80

Portfolio Transactions

81

Investments in Underlying Funds

81

Additional Information Regarding Investment Risks

83

Other Information

89

Commodity Pool Operator Exemption

89

Securities Loans

89

Securities Lending Revenue

89

Management of the Portfolios

90

Unitary Fees

92

Management Fees

92

Fee Waiver and Expense Assumption Agreements

93

Dividends, Capital Gains Distributions and Taxes

94

Purchase and Sale of Shares

97

Share Price

99

Book Entry

99

Net Asset Value

100

Creations and Redemptions

101

Premium/Discount Information

102

Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings

102

Delivery of Shareholder Documents

102

Distribution

102

Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

103

Financial Highlights

103


Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF (the “International Core ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.18%

Other Expenses

None

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.18%

 

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$18

$58

$101

$230

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 7% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the International Core ETF’s investment objective, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The International Core ETF is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of readily marketable equity securities of non-U.S. companies that is composed of companies within the International Universe that meet the Advisor’s investment criteria. The Advisor defines the “International Universe” as a market capitalization weighted

1


set (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the International Universe it represents) of non-U.S. companies associated with developed markets that have been designated as Approved Markets (as identified below) for investment by the Advisor. The Portfolio will invest in companies of all sizes, with increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the International Universe. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the International Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to their book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the International Core ETF’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The Advisor will seek to set country weights based on the relative market capitalizations of eligible companies within each Approved Market. As of the date of this Prospectus, the International Core ETF can invest in the following countries that have been designated as Approved Markets by the Advisor: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The countries designated as Approved Markets will change from time to time. In addition, the countries in which the Portfolio actually holds investments will change from time to time. For additional information regarding the Portfolio’s Approved Markets, see the “Additional Information on Investment Objectives and Policies—Approved Markets” section of the Prospectus.

The International Core ETF may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign or U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The International Core ETF may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The International Core ETF is an actively managed exchange traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

2


Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk: Securities of small and mid-cap companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small or mid-cap company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small and mid-cap company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, small and mid-capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

3


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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2021:13.75,2022:-12.86,2023:17.56)

   

January 2021-December 2023

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

16.41% 2022, Q4

-14.16% 2022, Q2

4


             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

17.56%

 

7.00%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

17.01%

 

6.55%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

11.10%

 

5.54%

1

MSCI World ex USA IMI Index (net dividends)

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

17.18%

 

5.58%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception November 17, 2020.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2020).

 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2020).

 Joel P. Schneider, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2024.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 100,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

5


Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

6


Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF (the “International Core Equity 2 ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.20%

Other Expenses

0.04%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.24%

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement1

0.01%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

0.23%

 

   

1

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Trust’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$24

$76

$134

$305

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 8% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the International Core Equity 2 ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As

7


further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of equity securities of non-U.S. companies in developed markets. The Portfolio invests in companies of all sizes, with increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the International Universe. For purposes of this Portfolio, the Advisor defines the International Universe as a market capitalization weighted set (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the International Universe it represents) of non-U.S. companies in developed markets that have been authorized as approved markets for investment by the Advisor’s Investment Committee. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the International Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The Portfolio intends to purchase securities of companies associated with developed market countries that the Advisor has designated as approved markets. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities. The Advisor determines company size on a country or region-specific basis and based primarily on market capitalization. The percentage allocation of the assets of the Portfolio to securities of the largest high relative price companies will generally be reduced from between 5% and 35% of their percentage weight in the International Universe. For example, as of December 31, 2023, securities of the largest high relative price companies in the International Universe comprised approximately 16% of the International Universe and the Advisor allocated approximately 8% of the Portfolio to securities of the largest high relative price companies in the International Universe. The percentage by which the Portfolio’s allocation to securities of the largest high relative price companies is reduced will change due to market movements and other factors.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Portfolio’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with approved markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign or U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of a foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The Portfolio is an actively managed exchange-traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

8


Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk: Securities of small and mid-cap companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small or mid-cap company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small and mid-cap company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, small and mid-capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

9


Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

10


 

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2023:17.2)

   

January 2023-December 2023

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

9.79% 2023, Q4

-2.46% 2023, Q3

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

17.20%

 

3.75%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

16.68%

 

3.31%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

10.87%

 

2.95%

1

MSCI World ex USA IMI Index (net dividends)

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

17.18%

 

3.10%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception March 23, 2022.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 William B. Collins-Dean, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Mary T. Phillips, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

11


Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 100,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

12


Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF (the “International Small Cap Value ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.39%

Other Expenses

0.04%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.43%

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement1

0.01%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

0.42%

 

   

1

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Trust’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$43

$137

$240

$541

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 13% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the International Small Cap Value ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As

13


further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio, using a market capitalization weighted approach, is designed to purchase securities of small, non-U.S. companies in countries with developed markets that the Advisor determines to be value stocks at the time of purchase. A company’s market capitalization is the number of its shares outstanding times its price per share. Under a market capitalization weighted approach, companies with higher market capitalizations generally represent a larger proportion of the Portfolio than companies with relatively lower market capitalizations. The Portfolio may emphasize certain stocks, including smaller capitalization companies, lower relative price stocks, and/or higher profitability stocks as compared to their representation in the small-cap value segment of developed non-U.S. markets. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The Portfolio intends to purchase securities of small value companies associated with developed market countries that the Advisor has designated as approved markets. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of small companies in the particular markets in which it invests. The Advisor determines the maximum market capitalization of a small company with respect to each country in which the Portfolio invests. In the countries or regions authorized for investment, the Advisor first ranks eligible companies listed on selected exchanges based on the companies’ market capitalizations. The Advisor then determines the universe of eligible securities by defining the maximum market capitalization of a small company that may be purchased by the Portfolio with respect to each country or region. Based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, for the Portfolio, the market capitalization of a small company in any country in which the Portfolio invests would be below $9,385 million. This threshold will vary by country or region. For example, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the Advisor would consider a small company in Switzerland to have a market capitalization below $9,385 million, a small company in Norway to have a market capitalization below $1,687 million, and a small company in Japan to have a market capitalization below $2,412 million. These thresholds will change due to market conditions.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Portfolio’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with approved markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign and U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of a foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The Portfolio is an actively managed exchange-traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

14


Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Small Company Risk: Securities of small companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, smaller capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

15


Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The table also includes the performance of an additional index with a similar investment universe as the Portfolio. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

16


 

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2023:19.6)

   

January 2023-December 2023

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

8.92% 2023, Q4

0.45% 2023, Q2

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

19.60%

 

4.31%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

19.08%

 

3.93%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

12.41%

 

3.43%

1

MSCI World ex USA Small Value Index (net dividends)

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

14.70%

 

1.01%

1

MSCI World ex USA Index (net dividends)2

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

17.94%

 

3.96%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception March 23, 2022.

2.

Effective February 28, 2024, the Portfolio incorporated this broad-based securities market index to reflect the overall applicable securities market of the Portfolio.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Arun C. Keswani, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

17


 Joel P. Schneider, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 50,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

18


Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional International Small Cap ETF (the “International Small Cap ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.35%

Other Expenses

0.05%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.40%

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement1

0.01%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

0.39%

 

   

1

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Trust’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$40

$127

$223

$504

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 10% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the International Small Cap ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As

19


further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio, using a market capitalization weighted approach, is designed to purchase securities of small, non-U.S. companies in countries with developed markets. A company’s market capitalization is the number of its shares outstanding times its price per share. Under a market capitalization weighted approach, companies with higher market capitalizations generally represent a larger proportion of the Portfolio than companies with relatively lower market capitalizations. The Portfolio may emphasize certain stocks, including smaller capitalization companies, lower relative price stocks, and/or higher profitability stocks as compared to their representation in the small-cap segment of developed non-U.S. markets. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The Portfolio intends to purchase securities of small companies associated with developed market countries that the Advisor has designated as approved markets. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of small companies in the particular markets in which it invests. The Advisor determines the maximum market capitalization of a small company with respect to each country in which the Portfolio invests. In the countries or regions authorized for investment, the Advisor first ranks eligible companies listed on selected exchanges based on the companies’ market capitalizations. The Advisor then determines the universe of eligible securities by defining the maximum market capitalization of a small company that may be purchased by the Portfolio with respect to each country or region. Based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, for the Portfolio, the market capitalization of a small company in any country in which the Portfolio invests would be below $9,385 million. This threshold will vary by country or region. For example, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the Advisor would consider a small company in Switzerland to have a market capitalization below $9,385 million, a small company in Norway to have a market capitalization below $1,687 million, and a small company in Japan to have a market capitalization below $2,412 million. These thresholds will change due to market conditions.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Portfolio’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with approved markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign and U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of a foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The Portfolio is an actively managed exchange-traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

20


Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Small Company Risk: Securities of small companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, smaller capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

21


Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The table also includes the performance of an additional index with a similar investment universe as the Portfolio. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

22


 

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2023:15.04)

   

January 2023-December 2023

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

10.57% 2023, Q4

-2.62% 2023, Q3

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

15.04%

 

0.13%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

14.58%

 

-0.21%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

9.54%

 

0.20%

1

MSCI World ex USA Small Cap Index (net dividends)

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

12.62%

 

-1.89%

1

MSCI World ex USA Index (net dividends)2

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

17.94%

 

3.96%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception March 23, 2022.

2.

Effective February 28, 2024, the Portfolio incorporated this broad-based securities market index to reflect the overall applicable securities market of the Portfolio.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Arun C. Keswani, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

23


 Joel P. Schneider, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 100,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

24


Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional International High Profitability ETF (the “International High Profitability ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.25%

Other Expenses

0.04%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.29%

 

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$30

$93

$163

$368

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 13% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the International High Profitability ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase securities of large non-U.S. companies that the Advisor determines to have high profitability relative to other large capitalization companies in the same country or region, at the time of purchase. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from

25


operations in relation to its book value or assets. The Portfolio may emphasize certain stocks, including smaller capitalization companies, lower relative price stocks, and/or higher profitability stocks as compared to their representation in the large-cap high profitability segments of developed non-U.S. markets. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to such stocks may be achieved by overweighting and/or underweighting eligible stocks based on their market capitalization, relative price, and/or profitability characteristics. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The Portfolio intends to purchase securities of large non-U.S. companies associated with developed market countries that the Advisor has designated as approved markets. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of companies in the particular non-U.S. markets in which the Portfolio invests. The Advisor determines the minimum market capitalization of a large company with respect to each country or region in which the Portfolio invests. Based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the market capitalization of a large company in any country or region in which the Portfolio invests would be $1,457 million or above. This threshold will vary by country or region. For example, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the Advisor considered a large company in the European Economic and Monetary Union (the “EMU“) to have a market capitalization of at least $7,735 million, a large company in Norway to have a market capitalization of at least $1,687 million and a large company in Switzerland to have a market capitalization of at least $9,385 million. These thresholds will change due to market conditions.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Portfolio’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum and short-run reversals. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies in an approved market by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign and U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of a foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The Portfolio is an actively managed exchange-traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

26


Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary

27


information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2023:18.93)

   

January 2023-December 2023

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

10.91% 2023, Q4

-3.94% 2023, Q3

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

18.93%

 

3.92%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

18.48%

 

3.50%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

11.81%

 

3.07%

1

MSCI World ex USA Index (net dividends)

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

17.94%

 

3.96%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception March 23, 2022.

28


Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Arun C. Keswani, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Joel P. Schneider, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 50,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

29


Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF (the “Emerging Markets Core ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.35%

Other Expenses

None

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.35%

 

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$36

$113

$197

$443

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 5% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the Emerging Markets Core ETF’s investment objective, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Emerging Markets Core ETF Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of readily marketable emerging markets equity securities that is composed of companies within the Emerging Markets Universe that meet the Advisor’s investment criteria. The Advisor defines the “Emerging Markets Universe” as a market capitalization

30


weighted set (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the Emerging Markets Universe it represents) of non-U.S. companies associated with emerging markets, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development), that have been designated as Approved Markets (as identified below) for investment by the Advisor. The Portfolio will invest in companies of all sizes, with increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the Emerging Markets Universe. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the Emerging Markets Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to their book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging market equity investments that are defined in the Prospectus as Approved Market Securities.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Emerging Markets Core ETF’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

As of the date of this Prospectus, the Emerging Markets Core ETF can invest in the following countries that have been designated as Approved Markets by the Advisor: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates. In determining what countries are eligible markets for the Portfolio, the Advisor may consider various factors, including without limitation, the data, analysis, and classification of countries published or disseminated by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (commonly known as the World Bank), the International Finance Corporation, FTSE International, and MSCI. The countries designated as Approved Markets will change from time to time. In addition, the countries in which the Portfolio actually holds investments will change from time to time. To determine whether a company is related to an emerging market country, the Advisor will consider various factors, such as where the company is organized or maintains its principal place of business, the principal trading market of the company, what government, agency or instrumentality issued or guaranteed the security, where the company’s revenues or profits are derived, and whether the company is in the Portfolio’s benchmark.

The Emerging Markets Core ETF may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies). The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The Emerging Markets Core ETF may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The Emerging Markets Core ETF is an actively managed exchange traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

31


Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk: Securities of small and mid-cap companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small or mid-cap company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small and mid-cap company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, small and mid-capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Emerging Markets Risk: Numerous emerging market countries have a history of, and continue to experience serious, and potentially continuing, economic and political problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade in and generally have higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

China Investments Risk: There are special risks associated with investments in China and Taiwan, which are considered emerging market countries by the Advisor. The Chinese government has implemented significant economic reforms in order to liberalize trade policy, promote foreign investment in the economy, reduce government control of the economy and develop market mechanisms. But there can be no assurance that these reforms will continue or that they will be effective. Despite reforms and privatizations of companies in certain sectors, the Chinese government still exercises substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector and may own or control many companies. The Chinese government continues to maintain a major role in economic policy making and investing in China involves risks of losses due to expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property, and the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested.

A reduction in spending on Chinese products and services or the institution of additional tariffs or other trade barriers, including as a result of heightened trade tensions between China and the United States may also have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. In addition, investments in Taiwan could be adversely affected by its political and economic relationship with China. Certain securities issued by companies located or operating in China, such as China A-shares, are also subject to trading restrictions, quota limitations and less market liquidity, which could pose risks to a fund investing in such securities. In addition, investments in special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies, known as variable interest entities (“VIEs”), that operate in sectors in which China restricts and/or prohibits foreign investments may present additional

32


risks. The Chinese government’s acceptance of the VIE structure is evolving. It is uncertain whether Chinese officials and regulators will withdraw their acceptance of the structure generally, or with respect to certain industries, or whether Chinese courts or arbitration bodies would decline to enforce the contractual rights of foreign investors, each of which would likely have significant, detrimental, and possibly permanent losses on the value of such investments.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested. Additional risks are associated with the use of swaps including counterparty and credit risk (the risk that the other party to a swap agreement will not fulfill its contractual obligations, whether because of bankruptcy or other default) and liquidity risk (the possible lack of a secondary market for the swap agreement). Counterparty risk increases when a fund is a buyer of swaps. Swaps may be illiquid or difficult to value.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

33


Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2021:3.48,2022:-17.25,2023:12.6)

   

January 2021-December 2023

 

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

 

9.74% 2022, Q4

-12.65% 2022, Q2

34


             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

12.60%

 

0.57%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

11.82%

 

-0.05%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

7.79%

 

0.34%

1

MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index (net dividends)

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

11.67%

 

-1.84%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception December 1, 2020.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2020).

 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2020).

 Joel P. Schneider, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2024.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 100,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

35


Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

36


Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF (the “Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.35%

Other Expenses

0.11%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.46%

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement1

0.05%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

0.41%

 

   

1

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Trust’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$42

$143

$253

$574

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 18% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

37


Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase securities of large companies associated with emerging markets that the Advisor determines to have high profitability relative to other large companies in the same country or region at the time of purchase. The Portfolio intends to purchase securities of large companies that are associated with emerging markets, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development), authorized for investment by the Advisor’s Investment Committee (“Approved Markets”).

An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The Portfolio may emphasize certain stocks, including smaller capitalization companies, lower relative price stocks, and/or higher profitability stocks as compared to their representation in the large-cap high profitability segments of the Approved Markets in which the Portfolio is authorized to invest. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to such stocks may be achieved by overweighting and/or underweighting eligible stocks based on their market capitalization, relative price, and/or profitability characteristics. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The Advisor’s definition of a large company varies across countries and is based primarily on market capitalization. A company’s market capitalization is the number of its shares outstanding times its price per share. In each country authorized for investment, the Advisor first ranks eligible companies listed on selected exchanges based on the companies’ market capitalizations. The Advisor then defines the minimum market capitalization for a large company in that country. Based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the market capitalization of a large cap company in any country or region in which the Portfolio invests would be $1,032 million or above. This threshold will vary by country or region. For example, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the Advisor considered a large company in Mexico to have a market capitalization of at least $5,795 million, and a large company in the Czech Republic to have a market capitalization of at least $1,918 million. These thresholds will change due to market conditions.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Portfolio’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum and short-run reversals. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets investments that are defined in the prospectus as Approved Market securities. The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies in an Approved Market by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies). The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of a foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

38


The Portfolio is an actively managed exchange-traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Emerging Markets Risk: Numerous emerging market countries have a history of, and continue to experience serious, and potentially continuing, economic and political problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade in and generally have higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

China Investments Risk: There are special risks associated with investments in China and Taiwan, which are considered emerging market countries by the Advisor. The Chinese government has implemented significant economic reforms in order to liberalize trade policy, promote foreign investment in the economy, reduce government control of the economy and develop market mechanisms. But there can be no assurance that these reforms will continue or that they will be effective. Despite reforms and privatizations of companies in certain sectors, the Chinese government still exercises substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector and may own or control many companies. The Chinese government continues to maintain a major role in economic policy making and investing in China involves risks of losses due to expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property, and the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested.

A reduction in spending on Chinese products and services or the institution of additional tariffs or other trade barriers, including as a result of heightened trade tensions between China and the United States may also have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. In addition, investments in Taiwan could be adversely affected by its political and economic relationship with China. Certain securities issued by companies located or operating in China, such as China A-shares, are also subject to trading restrictions, quota limitations and less market liquidity, which could pose risks to a fund investing in such securities. In addition, investments in special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies, known as variable interest entities (“VIEs”), that operate in sectors in which China restricts and/or prohibits foreign investments may present additional risks. The Chinese government’s acceptance of the VIE structure is evolving. It is uncertain whether Chinese officials and regulators will withdraw their acceptance of the structure generally, or with respect to certain industries, or whether Chinese courts or arbitration bodies would decline to enforce the contractual rights of foreign investors,

39


each of which would likely have significant, detrimental, and possibly permanent losses on the value of such investments.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

40


Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2023:11.88)

   

January 2023-December 2023

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

7.27% 2023, Q4

-2.30% 2023, Q3

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

11.88%

 

0.80%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

10.99%

 

0.06%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

7.43%

 

0.49%

1

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (net dividends)

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

9.83%

 

1.46%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception April 26, 2022.

41


Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Ethan Wren, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Mary T. Phillips, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2024.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 50,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

42


Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF (the “Emerging Markets Value ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.38%

Other Expenses

0.08%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.46%

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement1

0.03%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

0.43%

 

   

1

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Trust’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$44

$145

$255

$576

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 18% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the Emerging Markets Value ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As

43


further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase emerging market equity securities that are deemed by the Advisor to be value stocks at the time of purchase, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development), authorized for investment by the Advisor’s Investment Committee (“Approved Markets”). An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. The Portfolio may emphasize certain stocks, including smaller capitalization companies, lower relative price stocks, and/or higher profitability stocks as compared to their representation in the value segments of the Approved Markets in which the Portfolio is authorized to invest. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets investments that are defined in the Prospectus as Approved Markets securities. The Portfolio may purchase emerging market equity securities across all market capitalizations.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Portfolio’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies). The Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of a foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The Portfolio is an actively managed exchange-traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding

44


these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Emerging Markets Risk: Numerous emerging market countries have a history of, and continue to experience serious, and potentially continuing, economic and political problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade in and generally have higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

China Investments Risk: There are special risks associated with investments in China and Taiwan, which are considered emerging market countries by the Advisor. The Chinese government has implemented significant economic reforms in order to liberalize trade policy, promote foreign investment in the economy, reduce government control of the economy and develop market mechanisms. But there can be no assurance that these reforms will continue or that they will be effective. Despite reforms and privatizations of companies in certain sectors, the Chinese government still exercises substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector and may own or control many companies. The Chinese government continues to maintain a major role in economic policy making and investing in China involves risks of losses due to expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property, and the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested.

A reduction in spending on Chinese products and services or the institution of additional tariffs or other trade barriers, including as a result of heightened trade tensions between China and the United States may also have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. In addition, investments in Taiwan could be adversely affected by its political and economic relationship with China. Certain securities issued by companies located or operating in China, such as China A-shares, are also subject to trading restrictions, quota limitations and less market liquidity, which could pose risks to a fund investing in such securities. In addition, investments in special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies, known as variable interest entities (“VIEs”), that operate in sectors in which China restricts and/or prohibits foreign investments may present additional risks. The Chinese government’s acceptance of the VIE structure is evolving. It is uncertain whether Chinese officials and regulators will withdraw their acceptance of the structure generally, or with respect to certain industries, or whether Chinese courts or arbitration bodies would decline to enforce the contractual rights of foreign investors, each of which would likely have significant, detrimental, and possibly permanent losses on the value of such investments.

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk: Securities of small and mid-cap companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small or mid-cap company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small and mid-cap company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, small and mid-capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

45


Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The table also includes the performance of an additional index with a similar investment universe as the Portfolio. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns

46


depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2023:15.59)

   

January 2023-December 2023

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

6.87% 2023, Q4

0.12% 2023, Q3

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

15.59%

 

4.55%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

14.46%

 

3.35%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

9.72%

 

3.21%

1

MSCI Emerging Markets Value Index (net dividends)

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

14.21%

 

4.65%

1

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (net dividends)2

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

9.83%

 

1.46%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception April 26, 2022.

2.

Effective February 28, 2024, the Portfolio incorporated this broad-based securities market index to reflect the overall applicable securities market of the Portfolio.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

47


 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Ethan Wren, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Mary T. Phillips, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2024.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 100,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

48


Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF (the “Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.33%

Other Expenses

0.07%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.40%

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement1

0.01%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

0.39%

 

   

1

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Trust’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$40

$127

$223

$504

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 14% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As

49


further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of equity securities associated with emerging markets, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development), authorized for investment by the Advisor Investment Committee (“Approved Markets”). The Portfolio will invest in companies of all sizes, with increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The Advisor defines the “Emerging Markets Universe” as a market capitalization weighted set (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the Emerging Markets Universe it represents) of non-U.S. companies associated with Approved Markets. The percentage allocation of the assets of the Portfolio to securities of the largest high relative price companies will generally be reduced from between 5% and 35% of their percentage weight in the Emerging Markets Universe. For example, as of December 31, 2023, securities of the largest high relative price companies in the Emerging Markets Universe comprised approximately 8% of the Emerging Markets Universe and the Advisor allocated approximately 4% of the Portfolio to securities of the largest high relative price companies in the Emerging Markets Universe. The percentage by which the Portfolio’s allocation to securities of the largest high relative price companies is reduced will change due to market movements and other factors.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets equity investments that are defined in the prospectus as Approved Market securities.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Portfolio’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies). The Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of a foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The Portfolio is an actively managed exchange-traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

50


Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk: Securities of small and mid-cap companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small or mid-cap company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small and mid-cap company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, small and mid-capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Emerging Markets Risk: Numerous emerging market countries have a history of, and continue to experience serious, and potentially continuing, economic and political problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade in and generally have higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

China Investments Risk: There are special risks associated with investments in China and Taiwan, which are considered emerging market countries by the Advisor. The Chinese government has implemented significant economic reforms in order to liberalize trade policy, promote foreign investment in the economy, reduce government control of the economy and develop market mechanisms. But there can be no assurance that these reforms will continue or that they will be effective. Despite reforms and privatizations of companies in certain sectors, the Chinese government still exercises substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector and may own or control many companies. The Chinese government continues to maintain a major role in economic policy making and investing in China involves risks of losses due to expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property, and the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested.

A reduction in spending on Chinese products and services or the institution of additional tariffs or other trade barriers, including as a result of heightened trade tensions between China and the United States may also have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy. In addition, investments in Taiwan could be adversely affected by its political and economic relationship with China. Certain securities issued by companies located or operating in China, such as China A-shares, are also subject to trading restrictions, quota limitations and less market liquidity, which could pose risks to a fund investing in such securities. In addition, investments in special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies, known as variable interest entities (“VIEs”), that operate in sectors in which China restricts and/or prohibits foreign investments may present additional

51


risks. The Chinese government’s acceptance of the VIE structure is evolving. It is uncertain whether Chinese officials and regulators will withdraw their acceptance of the structure generally, or with respect to certain industries, or whether Chinese courts or arbitration bodies would decline to enforce the contractual rights of foreign investors, each of which would likely have significant, detrimental, and possibly permanent losses on the value of such investments.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary

52


information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2023:13.62)

   

January 2023-December 2023

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

7.50% 2023, Q4

-1.21% 2023, Q3

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

13.62%

 

2.48%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

12.83%

 

1.72%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

8.38%

 

1.73%

1

MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index (net dividends)

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

11.67%

 

2.22%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception April 26, 2022.

53


Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Allen Pu, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Mary T. Phillips, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 William B. Collins-Dean, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 100,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

54


Dimensional World Equity ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional World Equity ETF (the “World Equity ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.02%

Other Expenses1

0.03%

Acquired Fund Fees & Expenses1

0.21%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.26%

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement2

0.01%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

0.25%

 

   

1

The Portfolio is a new portfolio, so the “Other Expenses” and “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses” shown are based on anticipated fees and expenses for the first full fiscal year.

2

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Trust’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

   

1 Year

3 Years

$26

$83

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. The Portfolio does not pay transaction costs when buying and selling shares of other investment companies (the “Underlying Funds”); however, the Underlying Funds pay transaction costs when buying and selling securities for their portfolio. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the period September 26, 2023 to October

55


31, 2023, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 5% based on the weighted average portfolio turnover ratios of each of the Portfolio's underlying investments.

Principal Investment Strategies

The World Equity ETF is a “fund of funds”, which means that the Portfolio generally allocates its assets among other funds managed by the Advisor (the “Underlying Funds”), although it has the flexibility to invest directly in securities and derivatives. The Portfolio allocates its assets to Underlying Funds that invest in domestic and international equity securities.

To achieve the Portfolio’s and the Underlying Funds’ investment objectives, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s and Underlying Funds’ designs emphasize long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies and sectors. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to provide exposure to a broad portfolio of equity securities of both U.S. companies and non-U.S. companies associated with countries with developed and emerging markets, primarily by purchasing shares of the Underlying Funds. In addition, the Portfolio further diversifies its investment portfolio by allocating its assets among Underlying Funds that provide exposure to companies in all market capitalization ranges, as well as real estate securities. The Portfolio and certain Underlying Funds may emphasize securities of smaller, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies.

The Portfolio invests substantially all of its assets in the Dimensional US Core Equity 1 ETF, Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF, Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF, Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF, and Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF. Generally, the Portfolio invests its assets in the Underlying Funds to gain exposure to equity securities with an allocation of approximately 55% to 75% of the Portfolio’s assets in U.S. equity securities, 10% to 35% in international developed markets equity securities, 0% to 20% in emerging markets equity securities, and 0% to 15% in real estate securities. Periodically, the Advisor will review the allocations for the Portfolio in each Underlying Fund and may adjust the allocations to the Underlying Funds or may add or remove Underlying Funds in the Portfolio without notice to shareholders.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Portfolio’s net assets will be invested directly, or indirectly through its investment in the Underlying Funds, in equity securities.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Portfolio’s and/or Underlying Funds’ exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

Because many of the Portfolio’s and certain Underlying Funds’ investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio and certain Underlying Funds may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts in connection with the settlement of foreign securities, or to transfer balances from one currency to another. In addition, the Portfolio and certain Underlying Funds may gain exposure to companies associated with approved markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country. The Portfolio and each Underlying Fund may purchase and sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign or U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio or Underlying Funds.

The Portfolio and Underlying Funds may lend their portfolio securities to generate additional income.

56


The Portfolio is an actively managed exchange traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Fund of Funds Risk: The investment performance of the Portfolio is affected by the investment performance of its underlying funds in which the fund of funds invests. The ability of the fund of funds to achieve its investment objective depends on the ability of the underlying funds to meet their investment objectives and on the Advisor’s decisions regarding the allocation of a fund of funds assets among underlying funds. A fund of funds may allocate assets to an underlying fund or asset class that underperforms other funds or asset classes. There can be no assurance that the investment objective of a fund of funds or any underlying fund will be achieved. When a fund of funds invests in an underlying fund, investors are exposed to a proportionate share of the expenses of those underlying funds in addition to the expenses of the fund of funds. Through its investments in underlying funds, a fund of funds is subject to the risks of the underlying funds’ investments. Certain risks of an underlying funds’ investments that are principal risks of investing in a fund of funds are described below. In addition to the risks associated with a underlying funds’ investments, a fund of funds investments in underlying funds operated as exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) are also subject to the following additional risks: (1) an ETF’s shares may trade at a significant premium or discount to net asset value due to disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market prices of the ETF’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market; (2) an active trading market for an ETF’s shares may not develop or be maintained by market makers or authorized participants; and (3) trading in an ETF’s shares may be halted in certain circumstances.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio and each Underlying Fund do not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk: Securities of small and mid-cap companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small or mid-cap company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small and mid-cap company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, small and mid-capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment

57


strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Emerging Markets Risk: Numerous emerging market countries have a history of, and continue to experience serious, and potentially continuing, economic and political problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade in and generally have higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

58


Performance

Performance information is not available for the Portfolio because it has not yet completed a full calendar year of operations. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained in the future by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 Ashish P. Bhagwanjee, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2023).

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2023).

 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2023).

 Mary T. Phillips, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2023).

 Allen Pu, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2023).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 5,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order.  

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

59


Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

60


Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF (the “Global Real Estate ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

     

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

 

 

 

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each
year as a percentage of the value of your investment)1

 

 

 

 

Management Fee

0.19%

Other Expenses

0.05%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

0.24%

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement2

0.02%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

0.22%

 

   

1

The “Management Fee” and “Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses" have been adjusted to reflect the decrease in the management fee payable by the Portfolio from 0.20% to 0.19% effective as of February 28, 2023.

2

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Trust’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

       

1 Year

3 Years

5 Years

10 Years

$23

$75

$133

$304

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the period December 6, 2022 to October 31, 2023, the Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 9% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

61


Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the Global Real Estate ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions.

The Portfolio, using a market capitalization weighted approach, purchases a broad and diverse set of securities of U.S. and non-U.S. companies principally engaged in the real estate industry, including developed and emerging markets, with a particular focus on real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and companies the Advisor considers to be REIT-like entities. The Portfolio invests in companies of all sizes. A company’s market capitalization is the number of its shares outstanding times its price per share. Under a market capitalization weighted approach, companies with higher market capitalizations generally represent a larger proportion of the Portfolio than companies with relatively lower market capitalizations. However, the Advisor may limit or fix the Portfolio’s exposure to a particular country or issuer. The Advisor may also adjust the representation in the Portfolio of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as free float, price momentum, short-run reversals, trading strategies, liquidity, size, relative price, profitability, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time. The Advisor also may limit or fix the Portfolio’s exposure to a particular country or issuer.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Portfolio’s net assets will be invested in securities of companies in the real estate industry. The Portfolio concentrates (i.e., invests more than 25% of its net assets) its investments in securities of companies in the real estate industry. The Portfolio generally considers a company to be principally engaged in the real estate industry if the company (i) derives at least 50% of its revenue or profits from the ownership, management, development, construction, or sale of residential, commercial, industrial, or other real estate; (ii) has at least 50% of the value of its assets invested in residential, commercial, industrial, or other real estate; or (iii) is organized as a REIT or REIT-like entity. REITs and REIT-like entities are types of real estate companies that pool investors’ funds for investment primarily in income producing real estate or real estate related loans or interests. The Portfolio also may invest in stapled securities, where one or more of the underlying securities represents interests in a company or subsidiary in the real estate industry.

The Portfolio intends to purchase securities of companies associated with countries that the Advisor has identified as approved markets for investment for the Portfolio. The Portfolio intends to invest its assets to gain exposure to at least three different countries, including the United States. The Advisor will generally seek to set country weights based on the relative market capitalizations of eligible companies within each approved market. (For a description of the securities and countries approved for investment, see the “Additional Information on Investment Objective and Policies—Approved Markets” section of the Prospectus). As of the date of the Prospectus, the Portfolio invests approximately 74% of its net assets in U.S. companies. This percentage will change due to market conditions.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with approved markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country. The Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The Portfolio is an actively managed exchange traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

62


Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Risks of Concentrating in the Real Estate Industry: A fund that concentrates (i.e., invests more than 25% of its net assets) its investments in securities of companies in the real estate industry will be exposed to the general risks of direct real estate ownership. The value of securities in the real estate industry can be affected by changes in real estate values and rental income, property taxes, and tax and regulatory requirements. Also, the value of securities in the real estate industry may decline with changes in interest rates. Investing in REITs and REIT-like entities involves certain unique risks in addition to those risks associated with investing in the real estate industry in general. REITs and REIT-like entities are dependent upon management skill, may not be diversified, and are subject to heavy cash flow dependency and self-liquidation. REITs and REIT-like entities also are subject to the possibility of failing to qualify for tax free pass-through of income. Also, because REITs and REIT-like entities typically are invested in a limited number of projects or in a particular market segment, these entities are more susceptible to adverse developments affecting a single project or market segment than more broadly diversified investments. The performance of a fund may be materially different from the broad equity market.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Portfolio does not hedge foreign currency risk.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk: Securities of small and mid-cap companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small or mid-cap company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small and mid-cap company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, small and mid-capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Emerging Markets Risk: Numerous emerging market countries have a history of, and continue to experience serious, and potentially continuing, economic and political problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade in and generally have higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for a fund’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in a fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of a fund will continue to be met.

63


Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of a fund and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of a fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The table also includes the performance of an additional index with a similar investment universe as the Portfolio. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

64


 

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF —Total Returns

PerformanceBarChartData(2023:9.64)

   

January 2023-December 2023

Highest Quarter

Lowest Quarter

17.28% 2023, Q4

-7.24% 2023, Q3

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ended December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since

 

 

 

1 Year

 

Inception

 

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return Before Taxes

 

9.64%

 

7.75%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions

 

8.48%

 

6.46%

1

 

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

 

5.78%

 

5.40%

1

S&P Global REIT Index (net dividends)2

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

10.23%

 

7.82%

1

MSCI All Country World IMI Index (net dividends)3

 

 

 

 

 

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes on sales)

 

21.58%

 

17.82%

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.

Since inception December 6, 2022.

2.

Copyright® 2023 S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a division of S&P Global. All rights reserved.

3.

Effective February 28, 2024, the Portfolio incorporated this broad-based securities market index to reflect the overall applicable securities market of the Portfolio.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Portfolio. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 William B. Collins-Dean, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

65


 Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

 Mary T. Phillips, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2022).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Portfolio issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 50,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order. 

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

66


Additional Information on Investment Objectives and Policies

Dimensional ETF Trust (the “Trust”) offers a variety of investment portfolios. Each of the investment company’s portfolios has its own investment objective and is the equivalent of a separate exchange-traded fund (“ETF”). Shares of the Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF (the “International Core ETF”), Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF (the “International Core Equity 2 ETF”), Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF (the “International Small Cap Value ETF”), Dimensional International Small Cap ETF (the “International Small Cap ETF”), Dimensional International High Profitability ETF (the “International High Profitability ETF”), Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF (the “Emerging Markets Core ETF”), Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF (the “Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF”), Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF (the “Emerging Markets Value ETF”), Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF (the “Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF”), Dimensional World Equity ETF (the "World Equity ETF"), and Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF (the “Global Real Estate ETF”) (each, a “Portfolio” and collectively, the “Portfolios”) are offered in this Prospectus. The Portfolios are designed for long-term investors.

The investment objective of each Portfolio is to achieve long-term capital appreciation. Each Portfolio’s investment objective is non-fundamental, which means it may be changed by the Board of Trustees without shareholder approval. Shareholders will be given at least 60 days’ advance notice of any change to a Portfolio’s investment objective.

INVESTMENT TERMS USED IN THE PROSPECTUS

Below are the definitions of some terms that the Advisor uses to describe the investment strategies for certain Portfolios.

Free Float generally describes the number of publicly traded shares of a company.

Price Momentum generally describes the tendency for stocks that have outperformed their peers to continue outperforming, and the similar tendency for stocks that have underperformed their peers to continue underperforming.

Short-Run Reversals generally describes the tendency for stocks that have recently outperformed their peers to underperform in the short run, and the similar tendency for stocks that have recently underperformed their peers to outperform in the short run.

Trading Strategies generally refers to the ability to execute purchases and sales of stocks in a cost-effective manner.

Profitability generally measures a company’s profit in relation to its book value or assets.

International Core ETF

To achieve the International Core ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The International Core ETF is designed to achieve its investment objective by purchasing a broad and diverse group of readily marketable equity securities of non-U.S. companies that is composed of companies within the International Universe that meet the Advisor’s investment criteria. The Advisor defines the “International Universe” as a market capitalization weighted set of non-U.S. companies associated with developed markets that have been designated as Approved Markets for investment by the Advisor. Market capitalization weighted means that a company’s weighting in the International Universe is proportional to that company’s actual market capitalization compared to the total market capitalization of all eligible companies. The higher the company’s relative market capitalization, the greater its representation. For a description of the securities and countries approved for investment, see “Approved Markets” below. The Portfolio will invest in companies of all sizes, with increased

67


exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the International Universe. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the International Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to their book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors, such as price-to-cash-flow or price-to-earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The Advisor will seek to set country weights based on the relative market capitalizations of eligible companies within each Approved Market. The Advisor may also increase or reduce the International Core ETF’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. The Advisor may consider a small capitalization company’s investment characteristics as compared to other eligible companies when making investment decisions and may exclude a small capitalization company with high recent asset growth. The Portfolio will generally not exclude more than 5% of the eligible small capitalization company universe within each eligible country based on such investment characteristics. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. The Advisor may decrease the amount that the Portfolio invests in small capitalization companies that have lower profitability and/or higher relative prices. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

Under normal market conditions, the International Core ETF intends to invest at least 40% of its assets in three or more non-U.S. countries by investing in securities of companies associated with such countries.

The International Core ETF may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign or U.S. equity securities and indices, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

The International Core ETF may invest in ETFs for the purpose of gaining exposure to the equity markets while maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the International Core ETF may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds to manage cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses. The Portfolio will look through to the security holdings of any investment companies in which it invests for purposes of compliance with its 80% policy, to the extent that the Portfolio has sufficient information about the holdings of such investment companies.

International Core Equity 2 ETF

To achieve the International Core Equity 2 ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of equity securities of non-U.S. companies in developed markets. The Portfolio invests in companies of all sizes, with increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the International Universe. For purposes of this Portfolio, the Advisor defines the International Universe as a market capitalization weighted set (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the International Universe it represents) of non-U.S. companies in developed markets that have been authorized as approved markets for investment by the

68


Advisor’s Investment Committee. See “Approved Markets” in this Prospectus. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the International Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The Portfolio intends to purchase securities of companies associated with developed market countries that the Advisor has designated as approved markets. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities. The Advisor determines company size on a country or region-specific basis and based primarily on market capitalization. The percentage allocation of the assets of the Portfolio to securities of the largest high relative price companies will generally be reduced from between 5% and 35% of their percentage weight in the International Universe. The percentage by which the Portfolio’s allocation to securities of the largest high relative price companies is reduced will change due to market movements and other factors.

The Advisor may also adjust the representation in the Portfolio of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as free float, price momentum, short-run reversals, trading strategies, liquidity, size, relative price, profitability, investment characteristics, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with approved markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign or U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio intends to invest at least 40% of its assets in three or more non-U.S. countries by investing in securities of companies associated with such countries.

The Advisor may consider a small capitalization company’s investment characteristics as compared to other eligible companies when making investment decisions and may exclude a small capitalization company with high recent asset growth. The Portfolio will generally not exclude more than 5% of the eligible small capitalization company universe within each eligible country based on investment characteristics. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. The Advisor may decrease the amount that the Portfolio invests in small capitalization companies that have lower profitability and/or higher relative prices. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The Portfolio may invest in ETFs for the purpose of gaining exposure to the equity markets while maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the Portfolio may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds to manage cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

International Small Cap Value ETF
International Small Cap ETF

To achieve the Portfolios’ investment objectives, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolios’ design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio

69


management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The International Small Cap Value ETF, using a market capitalization weighted approach, is designed to purchase securities of small, non-U.S. companies in countries with developed markets that the Advisor determines to be value stocks at the time of purchase. The International Small Cap ETF, using a market capitalization weighted approach, is designed to purchase securities of small, non-U.S. companies in countries with developed markets. A company’s market capitalization is the number of its shares outstanding times its price per share. Under a market capitalization weighted approach, companies with higher market capitalizations generally represent a larger proportion of the Portfolio than companies with relatively lower market capitalizations. The Advisor may adjust the representation in a Portfolio of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as free float, price momentum, short-run reversals, trading strategies, liquidity, relative price, profitability, investment characteristics, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The International Small Cap Value ETF intends to purchase securities of small value companies associated with developed market countries that the Advisor has designated as approved markets. The International Small Cap ETF intends to purchase securities of small companies associated with developed market countries that the Advisor has designated as approved markets. For a description of the securities and countries approved for investment, see “Approved Markets” in this Prospectus. Under normal market conditions, each Portfolio intends to invest at least 40% of its assets in three or more non-U.S. countries by investing in securities of companies associated with such countries.

Each Portfolio intends to invest in the stock of eligible companies using a market capitalization weighted approach. The Advisor, using this approach and its judgment, will seek to set country weights based on the relative market capitalizations of eligible small companies within each country. See “Market Capitalization Weighted Approach” in this Prospectus. The weightings of countries in each Portfolio may vary from their weightings in international indices, such as those published by FTSE International, and MSCI.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, each Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of small companies in the particular markets in which it invests. The Advisor determines the maximum market capitalization of a small company with respect to each country in which each Portfolio invests. In the countries or regions authorized for investment, the Advisor first ranks eligible companies listed on selected exchanges based on the companies’ market capitalizations. The Advisor then determines the universe of eligible securities by defining the maximum market capitalization of a small company that may be purchased by a Portfolio with respect to each country or region. Based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, for each Portfolio, the market capitalization of a small company in any country in which the Portfolio invests would be below $9,385 million. This threshold will vary by country or region. For example, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the Advisor would consider a small company in Switzerland to have a market capitalization below $9,385 million, a small company in Norway to have a market capitalization below $1,687 million, and a small company in Japan to have a market capitalization below $2,412 million. These thresholds will change due to market conditions.

Each Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with approved markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. Each Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign and U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from a Portfolio.

Each Portfolio does not seek current income as an investment objective and investments will not be based upon an issuer’s dividend payment policy or record. However, many of the companies whose securities will be included in a Portfolio do pay dividends. It is anticipated, therefore, that each Portfolio will receive dividend income.

70


The Advisor may consider a small capitalization company’s investment characteristics as compared to other eligible companies when making investment decisions and may exclude a small capitalization company with high recent asset growth. Each Portfolio will generally not exclude more than 5% of the eligible small capitalization company universe within each eligible country based on investment characteristics. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. The Advisor may also decrease the amount that each Portfolio invests in small capitalization companies that have lower profitability and/or higher relative prices.

Each Portfolio may invest in ETFs for the purpose of gaining exposure to the equity markets while maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, a Portfolio may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds to manage the Portfolio’s cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

International High Profitability ETF

To achieve the International High Profitability ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase securities of large non-U.S. companies that the Advisor determines to have high profitability relative to other large capitalization companies in the same country or region, at the time of purchase. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The Advisor may also adjust the representation in the Portfolio of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as market capitalization, free float, size, relative price, profitability, price momentum, short-run reversals, trading strategies, liquidity management, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

Under normal market conditions, the Portfolio intends to invest at least 40% of its assets in three or more non-U.S. countries by investing in securities of companies associated with such countries. The Portfolio invests its assets in securities of large non-U.S. companies associated with approved markets. For a description of the securities and countries approved for investment, see “Approved Markets” in this Prospectus. In addition, the Portfolio may continue to hold securities of developed market countries that are not listed in Approved Markets, but had been authorized for investment in the past, and may reinvest distributions received in connection with such existing investments in such previously Approved Markets.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of companies in the particular non-U.S. markets in which the Portfolio invests. The Advisor determines the minimum market capitalization of a large company with respect to each country or region in which the Portfolio invests. Based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the market capitalization of a large company in any country or region in which the Portfolio invests would be $1,457 million or above. This threshold will vary by country or region. For example, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the Advisor considered a large company in the EMU to have a market capitalization of at least $7,735 million, a large company in Norway to have a market capitalization of at least $1,687 million and a large company in Switzerland to have a market capitalization of at least $9,385 million. These thresholds will change due to market conditions.

The Portfolio does not seek current income as an investment objective and investments will not be based upon an issuer’s dividend payment policy or record. However, many of the companies whose securities will be included in the Portfolio do pay dividends. It is anticipated, therefore, that the Portfolio will receive dividend income.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies in an approved market by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for

71


foreign or U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

The Portfolio may invest in ETFs for the purpose of gaining exposure to the equity markets while maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the Portfolio may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds to manage the Portfolio’s cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

Emerging Markets Core ETF

To achieve the Emerging Markets Core ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of readily marketable emerging markets equity securities that is composed of companies within the Emerging Markets Universe that meet the Advisor’s investment criteria. The Advisor defines the “Emerging Markets Universe” as a market capitalization weighted set of non-U.S. companies associated with emerging markets, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development), that have been designated as Approved Markets for investment by the Advisor. Market capitalization weighted means that a company’s weighting in the Emerging Markets Universe is proportional to that company’s actual market capitalization compared to the total market capitalization of all eligible companies. The higher the company’s relative market capitalization, the greater its representation. For a description of the securities and countries approved for investment, see “Approved Markets” below. The Portfolio invests its assets primarily in Approved Market equity securities listed on bona fide securities exchanges. The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) that are accessible through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program or the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect program (together “Stock Connect”) and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies).

The Portfolio will invest in companies of all sizes, with increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the Emerging Markets Universe. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the Emerging Markets Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to their book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors, such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Portfolio’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. The Advisor may consider a small capitalization company’s investment characteristics as compared to other eligible companies when making investment decisions and may exclude a small capitalization company with high recent asset growth. The Portfolio will generally not exclude more than 5% of the eligible small capitalization company universe within each eligible country based on such investment characteristics. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. The Advisor may decrease the amount that the Portfolio invests in small capitalization companies that have lower profitability and/or higher relative prices. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets investments that are defined in the Prospectus as Approved Market securities. The Portfolio may

72


gain exposure to companies in Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into swap agreements. The Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

In determining which emerging market countries are eligible markets for the Portfolio, the Advisor may consider various factors, including without limitation, the data, analysis, and classification of countries published or disseminated by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (commonly known as the World Bank), the International Finance Corporation, FTSE International, and MSCI. Approved Markets may not include all such emerging markets. In determining whether to approve emerging markets for investment, the Advisor may take into account, among other things, market liquidity, relative availability of investor information, government regulation, including fiscal and foreign exchange repatriation rules and the availability of other access to these markets for the Portfolio.

Pending the investment of new capital in Approved Markets securities, the Portfolio will typically invest in money market instruments or other highly liquid debt instruments including those denominated in U.S. dollars (including, without limitation, repurchase agreements). In addition, the Portfolio, may, for liquidity, or for temporary defensive purposes during periods in which market or economic or political conditions warrant, purchase highly liquid debt instruments or hold freely convertible currencies.

The Portfolio also may invest up to 10% of its total assets in shares of other registered investment companies that invest in one or more Approved Markets, although it intends to do so only where access to those markets is otherwise significantly limited. The Portfolio may also invest in ETFs that provide exposure to Approved Markets or other equity markets, including the United States, for the purposes of gaining exposure to the equity markets while maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the Portfolio may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds to manage cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses. The Portfolio will look through to the security holdings of any investment companies in which it invests for purposes of compliance with its 80% policy, to the extent that the Portfolio has sufficient information about the holdings of such investment companies.

The Portfolio does not seek current income as an investment objective, and investments will not be based upon an issuer’s dividend payment policy or record. However, many of the companies whose securities will be included in the Portfolio do pay dividends. It is anticipated, therefore, that the Portfolio will receive dividend income.

Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

To achieve the Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase securities of large companies associated with emerging markets that the Advisor determines to have high profitability relative to other large companies in the same country or region at the time of purchase. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The Advisor may also adjust the representation in the Portfolio of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as market capitalization, free float, size, relative price, profitability, price momentum, short-run reversals, trading strategies, liquidity management, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

73


The Portfolio intends to purchase securities of large companies that are associated with emerging markets, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development), that have been designated as Approved Markets. The Advisor’s definition of a large company varies across countries and is based primarily on market capitalization. A company’s market capitalization is the number of its shares outstanding times its price per share. In each country authorized for investment, the Advisor first ranks eligible companies listed on selected exchanges based on the companies’ market capitalizations. The Advisor then defines the minimum market capitalization for a large company in that country. Based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the market capitalization of a large cap company in any country or region in which the Portfolio invests would be $1,032 million or above. This threshold will vary by country or region. For example, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2023, the Advisor considered a large company in Mexico to have a market capitalization of at least $5,795 million, and a large company in the Czech Republic to have a market capitalization of at least $1,918 million. These thresholds will change due to market conditions.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets investments that are defined in the prospectus as Approved Market securities. The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies in an Approved Market by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) that are accessible through Stock Connect and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies).

The Portfolio does not seek current income as an investment objective, and investments will not be based upon an issuer’s dividend payment policy or record. However, many of the companies whose securities will be included in the Portfolio do pay dividends. It is anticipated, therefore, that the Portfolio will receive dividend income.

The Portfolio may also invest in ETFs that provide exposure to Approved Markets or other equity markets, including the United States, for the purposes of gaining exposure to the equity markets while maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the Portfolio may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds to manage cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

Pending the investment of new capital in Approved Markets securities, the Portfolio will typically invest in money market instruments or other highly liquid debt instruments including those denominated in U.S. dollars (including, without limitation, repurchase agreements). In addition, the Portfolio, may, for liquidity, or for temporary defensive purposes during periods in which market or economic or political conditions warrant, purchase highly liquid debt instruments or hold freely convertible currencies, although the Portfolio does not expect the aggregate of all such amounts to exceed 20% of its net assets under normal circumstances.

The Portfolio also may invest up to 10% of its total assets in shares of other investment companies that invest in one or more Approved Markets, although it intends to do so only where access to those markets is otherwise significantly limited. In some Approved Markets, it may be necessary or advisable for the Portfolio to establish a wholly owned subsidiary or a trust for the purpose of investing in the local markets.

Emerging Markets Value ETF

To achieve the Emerging Markets Value ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase emerging market equity securities that are deemed by the Advisor to be value stocks at the time of purchase, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of

74


development), that have been designated as Approved Markets. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. The Advisor may also adjust the representation in the Portfolio of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as free float, price momentum, short-run reversals, trading strategies, liquidity, size, relative price, profitability, investment characteristics, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets investments that are defined in the Prospectus as Approved Markets securities. The Portfolio may purchase emerging market equity securities across all market capitalizations.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) that are accessible through Stock Connect and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies).

The Portfolio does not seek current income as an investment objective, and investments will not be based upon an issuer’s dividend payment policy or record. However, many of the companies whose securities will be included in the Portfolio do pay dividends. It is anticipated, therefore, that the Portfolio will receive dividend income.

The Portfolio may also invest in ETFs that provide exposure to Approved Markets or other equity markets, including the United States, for the purposes of gaining exposure to the equity markets while maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the Portfolio may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds to manage cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

Generally, changes in the composition and relative ranking (in terms of price to book ratio) of the stocks which are eligible for purchase by the Portfolio take place with every trade when the securities markets are open for trading due primarily to price changes of such securities. On a periodic basis, the Advisor will identify value stocks that are eligible for investment and re-evaluate eligible value stocks no less than semi-annually.

Pending the investment of new capital in Approved Markets securities, the Portfolio will typically invest in money market instruments or other highly liquid debt instruments including those denominated in U.S. dollars (including, without limitation, repurchase agreements). In addition, the Portfolio, may, for liquidity, or for temporary defensive purposes during periods in which market or economic or political conditions warrant, purchase highly liquid debt instruments or hold freely convertible currencies, although the Portfolio does not expect the aggregate of all such amounts to exceed 20% of its net assets under normal circumstances.

The Portfolio also may invest up to 10% of its total assets in shares of other investment companies that invest in one or more Approved Markets, although it intends to do so only where access to those markets is otherwise significantly limited. In some Approved Markets, it may be necessary or advisable for the Portfolio to establish a wholly owned subsidiary or a trust for the purpose of investing in the local markets.

The Advisor may consider a small capitalization company’s investment characteristics as compared to other eligible companies when making investment decisions and may exclude a small capitalization company with high recent asset growth. The Portfolio will generally not exclude more than 5% of the eligible small capitalization company universe within each eligible country based on investment characteristics. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. The Advisor may also decrease the amount that the Portfolio invests in small capitalization companies that have lower profitability and/or higher relative prices.

75


Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF

To achieve the Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of equity securities associated with emerging markets, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development), that have been designated as Approved Markets. The Portfolio will invest in companies of all sizes, with increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time. The Advisor may also adjust the representation in the Portfolio of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as free float, price momentum, short-run reversals, trading strategies, liquidity, size, relative price, profitability, investment characteristics, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate.

The Advisor defines the “Emerging Markets Universe” as a market capitalization weighted set (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the Emerging Markets Universe it represents) of non-U.S. companies associated with Approved Markets. The percentage allocation of the assets of the Portfolio to securities of the largest high relative price companies will generally be reduced from between 5% and 35% of their percentage weight in the Emerging Markets Universe. The percentage by which the Portfolio’s allocation to securities of the largest high relative price companies is reduced will change due to market movements and other factors.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets equity investments that are defined in the prospectus as Approved Market securities.

The Portfolio may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country, or by entering into equity swap agreements. The Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) that are accessible through Stock Connect and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies).

The Portfolio does not seek current income as an investment objective, and investments will not be based upon an issuer’s dividend payment policy or record. However, many of the companies whose securities will be included in the Portfolio do pay dividends. It is anticipated, therefore, that the Portfolio will receive dividend income.

The Portfolio may also invest in ETFs that provide exposure to Approved Markets or other equity markets, including the United States, for the purposes of gaining exposure to the equity markets while maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the Portfolio may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds to manage cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

Pending the investment of new capital in Approved Markets securities, the Portfolio will typically invest in money market instruments or other highly liquid debt instruments including those denominated in U.S. dollars (including, without limitation, repurchase agreements). In addition, the Portfolio, may, for liquidity, or for temporary defensive

76


purposes during periods in which market or economic or political conditions warrant, purchase highly liquid debt instruments or hold freely convertible currencies, although the Portfolio does not expect the aggregate of all such amounts to exceed 20% of its net assets under normal circumstances.

The Portfolio also may invest up to 10% of its total assets in shares of other investment companies that invest in one or more Approved Markets, although it intends to do so only where access to those markets is otherwise significantly limited. In some Approved Markets, it may be necessary or advisable for the Portfolio to establish a wholly owned subsidiary or a trust for the purpose of investing in the local markets.

The Advisor may consider a small capitalization company’s investment characteristics as compared to other eligible companies when making investment decisions and may exclude a small capitalization company with high recent asset growth. The Portfolio will generally not exclude more than 5% of the eligible small capitalization company universe within each eligible country based on investment characteristics. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. The Advisor may decrease the amount that the Portfolio invests in small capitalization companies that have lower profitability and/or higher relative prices. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

World Equity ETF

The World Equity ETF is a “fund of funds”, which means that the Portfolio generally allocates its assets among other funds managed by the Advisor (the “Underlying Funds”), although it has the flexibility to invest directly in securities and derivatives. The Portfolio allocates its assets to Underlying Funds that invest in domestic and international equity securities.

The Portfolio is designed to provide exposure to a broad portfolio of securities of both U.S. companies and non-U.S. companies associated with countries with developed and emerging markets, primarily by purchasing shares of the Underlying Funds. In addition, the Portfolio further diversifies its investment portfolio by allocating its assets among Underlying Funds that provide exposure to companies in all market capitalization ranges, as well as real estate securities. The Portfolio and certain Underlying Funds may emphasize securities of smaller, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Portfolio’s net assets will be invested directly, or indirectly through its investment in the Underlying Funds, in equity securities.

As of the date of this Prospectus, the Portfolio invests substantially all of its assets in the Dimensional US Core Equity 1 ETF, Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF, Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF, Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF, and Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF. Generally, the Portfolio invests its assets in the Underlying Funds to gain exposure to equity securities with an allocation of approximately 55% to 75% of the Portfolio’s assets in U.S. equity securities, 10% to 35% in international developed markets equity securities, 0% to 20% in emerging markets equity securities, and 0% to 15% in real estate securities. For a more complete description of the investment strategies for the Underlying Funds, see “Investments in Underlying Funds.” Periodically, the Advisor will review the allocations for the Portfolio in each Underlying Fund and may adjust the allocations to the Underlying Funds or may add or remove Underlying Funds in the Portfolio without notice to shareholders.

The Advisor will determine in its discretion when and whether to invest in markets that have been authorized as Approved Markets for each Underlying Fund, depending on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, asset growth in the Underlying Fund, constraints imposed in Approved Markets, and other characteristics of each such market. The Investment Committee of the Advisor also may authorize other markets for investment in the future, in addition to the Approved Markets identified below, or may remove one or more markets from the list of Approved Markets for an Underlying Fund. For a description of the securities approved for investment, see “Approved Markets.”

The Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF, an Underlying Fund, may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) that are accessible through Stock Connect and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies).

Because many of the Portfolio’s and certain Underlying Funds’ investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio and certain Underlying Funds may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions,

77


including foreign currency forward contracts in connection with the settlement of foreign securities, or to transfer balances from one currency to another. In addition, the Portfolio and certain Underlying Funds may gain exposure to companies associated with approved markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country.

The Portfolio and each Underlying Fund may purchase and sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign or U.S. equity securities and indices to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio or Underlying Funds. The Portfolio and each Underlying Fund may invest in ETFs for the purposes of gaining exposure to the equity markets, while maintaining liquidity. The Portfolio and Underlying Funds may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds and other short-term investments to manage cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

Global Real Estate ETF

The Global Real Estate ETF seeks to achieve exposure to a broad portfolio of securities of U.S. and non-U.S. companies in the real estate industry, with a focus on real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) or companies that the Advisor considers to be REIT-like entities. REITs and REIT-like entities are types of real estate companies that pool investors’ funds for investment primarily in income producing real estate or real estate related loans or interests. A U.S. REIT is not taxed on income distributed to shareholders if it complies with several requirements relating to its organization, ownership, assets, and income and a requirement that it distribute to its shareholders at least 90% of its taxable income (other than net capital gains) for each taxable year.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Portfolio’s net assets will be invested in securities of companies in the real estate industry. The Portfolio concentrates (i.e., invests more than 25% of its net assets) its investments in securities of companies in the real estate industry. The U.S. real estate securities of companies purchased by the Portfolio will be listed on securities exchanges in the United States that are deemed appropriate by the Advisor. The Portfolio will only purchase non-U.S. real estate securities of companies that are associated with Approved Markets (For a description of the securities and countries approved for investment, see “Approved Markets”).

On at least a semi-annual basis, the Advisor identifies a schedule of eligible investments consisting of equity securities of U.S. and non-U.S. companies in the real estate industry as described above. It is the intention of the Portfolio to invest in the securities of eligible companies generally using a market capitalization weighted approach to determine individual security weights and country weights. See “Market Capitalization Weighted Approach.” The use of a market capitalization weighted approach may result in the Portfolio having more than 25% of its assets in companies located in a single country.

The Portfolio generally redeems its shares in kind. See “Creations and Redemptions.” If securities must be sold in order to obtain funds to make redemption payments, such securities may be repurchased by the Portfolio, as additional cash becomes available to it. However, the Portfolio has retained the right to borrow to make redemption payments. Further, because the securities of certain companies whose shares are eligible for purchase are thinly traded, the Portfolio might not be able to purchase the number of shares that strict adherence to market capitalization weighting might require.

Investments will not be based upon an issuer’s dividend payment policy or record. However, many of the companies whose securities will be included in the Portfolio do pay dividends. It is anticipated, therefore, that the Portfolio will receive dividend income. Periodically, the Advisor may expand the investments eligible for the Portfolio to include equity securities of companies in sectors of the real estate industry, in addition to those described above as eligible for investment as of the date of this Prospectus, and additional countries to respond to market events, new listings and/or new legal structures in non-U.S. markets, among others.

The Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for equity securities and indices, and such investments may or may not provide exposure to the real estate industry. The Portfolio does not intend to sell futures contracts to or to use derivatives for purposes of speculation or leveraging investment returns. The Portfolio may invest in ETFs that provide exposure to equity markets, including the United States, both within and outside the real estate industry, and for the purposes of gaining exposure to the equity markets, while

78


maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the Portfolio may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds to manage cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

The Portfolio may also invest in China A-shares (equity securities of companies listed in China) that are accessible through Stock Connect and variable interest entities (special structures that utilize contractual arrangements to provide exposure to certain Chinese companies).

APPROVED MARKETS

As of the date of this Prospectus, the Portfolios (for World Equity ETF, either directly or indirectly through its Underlying Funds) can invest in the following countries that are designated as “Approved Markets”:

International Core ETF, International Core Equity 2 ETF, International Small Cap Value ETF, International Small Cap ETF and International High Profitability ETF: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Emerging Markets Value ETF: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates.

Emerging Markets Core ETF, Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF and Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates.

World Equity ETF:

Developed Markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and United States.

Emerging Markets: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.

Global Real Estate ETF:

Developed Markets: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and United States.

Emerging Markets: China, Greece, India, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey (collectively, the “Approved Markets”).

The Advisor will determine in its discretion when and whether to invest in countries that have been authorized as Approved Markets, depending on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, asset growth in the Portfolio, constraints imposed within Approved Markets, and other characteristics of each country’s markets. The Investment Committee of the Advisor also may authorize other countries for investment in the future, in addition to the Approved Markets listed above. Although the Advisor does not intend to purchase securities not associated with an Approved Market, a Portfolio may acquire such securities in connection with corporate actions or other reorganizations or transactions with respect to securities that are held by the Portfolio from time to time. Also, a Portfolio may continue to hold investments in countries that are not currently designated as Approved Markets, but had been authorized for investment in the past, and may reinvest distributions received in connection with such existing investments in such previously Approved Markets. Emerging Markets approved for investment may include countries in an earlier stage of development that are sometimes referred to as frontier markets.

79


The Portfolios invest in securities of Approved Markets (as identified above) listed on bona fide securities exchanges or traded on the over-the-counter markets. These exchanges or over-the-counter markets may be either within or outside the issuer’s domicile country. For example, the securities may be listed or traded in the form of European Depositary Receipts (“EDRs”), Global Depositary Receipts (“GDRs”), American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), or other types of depositary receipts (including non-voting depositary receipts) or may be listed on bona fide securities exchanges in more than one country. A Portfolio will consider for purchase securities that are associated with an Approved Market (“Approved Market Securities”). Approved Market Securities are: (a) securities of companies that are organized under the laws of, or maintain their principal place of business in, an Approved Market; (b) securities for which the principal trading market is in an Approved Market; (c) securities issued or guaranteed by the government of an Approved Market, its agencies or instrumentalities, or the central bank of such country or territory; (d) securities of companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed in Approved Markets or have at least 50% of their assets in Approved Markets; (e) securities included in the Portfolio’s benchmark index, which tracks Approved Markets; or (f) depositary shares of companies associated with Approved Markets under the criteria above. Securities of Approved Markets may include securities of companies that have characteristics and business relationships common to companies in other countries or regions. As a result, the value of the securities of such companies may reflect economic and market forces in such other countries or regions as well as in the Approved Markets. The Advisor, however, will select only those companies that, in its view, have sufficiently strong exposure to economic and market forces in Approved Markets that satisfy the criteria described above. The Portfolios also may obtain exposure to Approved Market Securities by investing in derivative instruments that derive their value from Approved Markets Securities, or by investing in securities of pooled investment vehicles that invest at least 80% of their assets in Approved Markets Securities.

In determining what countries are eligible markets for the Emerging Markets Core, Emerging Markets High Profitability, Emerging Markets Core 2, Emerging Markets Value, and World Equity ETFs, the Advisor may consider various factors, including without limitation, the data, analysis, and classification of countries published or disseminated by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (commonly known as the World Bank), the International Finance Corporation, FTSE International, and MSCI. Approved Markets may not include all such emerging markets. In determining whether to approve markets for investment, the Advisor may take into account, among other things, market liquidity, relative availability of investor information, government regulation, including fiscal and foreign exchange repatriation rules and the availability of other access to these markets for the Emerging Markets Core, Emerging Markets High Profitability, Emerging Markets Core 2, Emerging Markets Value, and World Equity ETFs.

MARKET CAPITALIZATION WEIGHTED APPROACH

The portfolio structures of the International Small Cap Value ETF, International Small Cap ETF and Global Real Estate ETF involve market capitalization weighting in determining individual security weights and, where applicable, country or region weights. Market capitalization weighting means each security is generally purchased based on the issuer’s relative market capitalization. Market capitalization weighting may be modified by the Advisor for a variety of reasons. The Advisor may adjust the representation in the International Small Cap Value, International Small Cap and Global Real Estate ETFs of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as free float, price momentum, short-run reversals, trading strategies, liquidity, relative price, profitability, investment characteristics, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price, profitability, and investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. The Advisor may deviate from market capitalization weighting to limit or fix the exposure of a Portfolio to a particular issuer to a maximum proportion of the assets of the Portfolio. The Advisor may exclude the stock of a company that meets applicable market capitalization criterion if the Advisor determines, in its judgment, that the purchase of such stock is inappropriate in light of other conditions. With respect to the International Small Cap Value and International Small Cap ETFs, the Advisor may decrease the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to eligible small capitalization companies that generally have lower profitability and/or higher relative prices. These adjustments will result in a deviation from traditional market capitalization weighting.

80


Adjustment for free float modifies market capitalization weighting to exclude the share capital of a company that is not freely available for trading in the public equity markets. For example, the following types of shares may be excluded: (i) those held by strategic investors (such as governments, controlling shareholders and management), (ii) treasury shares, or (iii) shares subject to foreign ownership restrictions.

Furthermore, the Advisor may reduce the relative amount of any security held in order to retain sufficient portfolio liquidity. A portion, but generally not in excess of 20% of assets, may be invested in interest bearing obligations, such as money market instruments, thereby causing further deviation from market capitalization weighting. A further deviation may occur due to holdings in securities received in connection with corporate actions.

Block purchases of eligible securities may be made at opportune prices, even though such purchases exceed the number of shares that, at the time of purchase, adherence to a market capitalization weighted approach would otherwise require. In addition, securities eligible for purchase or otherwise represented in a Portfolio may be acquired in exchange for the issuance of shares. See “Creations and Redemptions.” While such transactions might cause a deviation from market capitalization weighting, they would ordinarily be made in anticipation of further growth of assets.

Generally, changes in the composition and relative ranking (in terms of market capitalization) of the stocks that are eligible for purchase take place with every trade when the securities markets are open for trading due, primarily, to price changes of such securities. At least semi-annually, the Advisor will identify companies whose stock is eligible for investment by a Portfolio. Additional investments generally will not be made in securities that have changed in value sufficiently to be excluded from the Advisor’s then current market capitalization requirement for eligible portfolio securities. This may result in further deviation from market capitalization weighting. Such deviation could be substantial if a significant amount of holdings of a Portfolio change in value sufficiently to be excluded from the requirement for eligible securities, but not by a sufficient amount to warrant their sale.

Country weights may be based on the total market capitalization of companies within each country. The country weights may take into consideration the free float of companies within a country or whether these companies are eligible to be purchased for the particular strategy. In addition, to maintain a satisfactory level of diversification, the Investment Committee may limit or fix the exposure to a particular country or region to a maximum proportion of the assets of that vehicle. Country weights may also vary due to general day-to-day trading patterns and price movements. The weighting of countries may vary from their weighting in published international indices.

PORTFOLIO TRANSACTIONS

In general, securities will not be purchased or sold based on the prospects for the economy, the securities markets, or the individual issuers whose shares are eligible for purchase. Securities that have depreciated in value since their acquisition will not be sold solely because prospects for the issuer are not considered attractive or due to an expected or realized decline in securities prices in general. Securities generally will not be sold solely to realize short-term profits, but when circumstances warrant, they may be sold without regard to the length of time held. Securities, including those eligible for purchase, may be disposed of, however, at any time when, in the Advisor’s judgment, circumstances warrant their sale, including, but not limited to, tender offers, mergers, and similar transactions, or bids made for block purchases at opportune prices. Generally, securities will be purchased with the expectation that they will be held for longer than one year and will be held until such time as they are no longer an appropriate holding in light of the investment policies of each Portfolio.

In attempting to respond to adverse market, economic, political, or other considerations, each Portfolio may, from time to time, invest its assets in a temporary defensive manner that is inconsistent with the Portfolio’s principal investment strategies. In these circumstances, the Portfolio may invest a portion of its assets in highly liquid debt instruments, freely convertible currencies, or index futures contracts, and options thereon, which may prevent the Portfolio from achieving its investment objective.

Investments in Underlying Funds

The following is a summary of the investment strategies of Underlying Funds in which the World Equity ETF invests as of the date of this Prospectus that are not described in this Prospectus. Additional information concerning the investment policies of the Underlying Funds may be found in the Portfolio’s Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”).

81


Dimensional US Core Equity 1 ETF (“US Core Equity 1 ETF”)To achieve the US Core Equity 1 ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies and sectors. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The US Core Equity 1 ETF is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of equity securities of U.S. companies. The Portfolio invests in companies of all sizes, with moderately increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the U.S. Universe. The Advisor generally defines the U.S. Universe as a market capitalization weighted set (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the U.S. Universe it represents) of U.S. operating companies listed on a securities exchange in the United States that is deemed appropriate by the Advisor. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the U.S. Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the US Core Equity 1 ETF will invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of U.S. companies.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the US Core Equity 1 ETF’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The US Core Equity 1 ETF also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for U.S. equity securities and indices, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF (“US Core Equity 2 ETF”)The investment objective of the US Core Equity 2 ETF is to achieve long-term capital appreciation while considering federal income tax implications of investment decisions. The Portfolio seeks to maximize the after tax value of an investment by managing its portfolio in a manner that will defer the realization of net capital gains where possible and may attempt to reduce dividend income. Generally, the Advisor buys and sells securities for the Portfolio with the goals of: (i) delaying and minimizing the realization of net capital gains (e.g., selling stocks with capital losses to offset gains, realized or anticipated); and (ii) maximizing the extent to which any realized net capital gains are long-term in nature (i.e., taxable at lower capital gains tax rates).

To achieve the US Core Equity 2 ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies and sectors. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The US Core Equity 2 ETF is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of equity securities of U.S. companies. The Portfolio invests in companies of all sizes, with increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the U.S. Universe. The Advisor generally defines the U.S. Universe as a market capitalization weighted set (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the

82


proportion of the U.S. Universe it represents) of U.S. operating companies listed on a securities exchange in the United States that is deemed appropriate by the Advisor. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the U.S. Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the US Core Equity 2 ETF will invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of U.S. companies.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING INVESTMENT RISKS

Because the value of your investment in a Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in a Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolios.

The investment performance of the World Equity ETF is affected by the investment performance of the Underlying Funds in which the Portfolio invests. The Portfolio also indirectly pays its proportionate share of the expenses of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. The ability of the Portfolio to achieve its investment objective depends on the ability of the Underlying Funds to meet their investment objectives and on the Advisor’s decisions regarding the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets among the Underlying Funds. Through its investments in the Underlying Funds, the Portfolio is subject to the risks of the Underlying Funds’ investments. The following includes a description of principal risks of the Portfolio and its Underlying Funds.

                     

Risk

 

International
Core Equity
Market ETF

 

International
Core Equity
2 ETF

 

International
Small Cap
Value ETF

 

International
Small Cap
ETF

 

International
High
Profitability
ETF

China Investments Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Cyber Security Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Depositary Receipts Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Derivatives Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Equity Market Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

International Closed Market Trading Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Market Trading Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Operational Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Premium/Discount Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Profitability Investment Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Risks of Concentrating in the Real Estate Industry

                   

Securities Lending Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Small Company Risk

         

X

 

X

   

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk

 

X

 

X

           

Value Investment Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

83


                         

Risk

 

Emerging
Core
Equity
Market
ETF

 

Emerging
Markets
High
Profitability
ETF

 

Emerging
Markets
Core 2
ETF

 

Emerging
Markets
Value
ETF

 

World Equity
ETF

 

Global
Real
Estate
ETF

China Investments Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Cyber Security Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Depositary Receipts Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Derivatives Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Emerging Markets Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Equity Market Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Fund of Funds Risk

                 

X

   

International Closed Market Trading Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Market Trading Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Operational Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Premium/Discount Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Profitability Investment Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

   

Risks of Concentrating in the Real Estate Industry

                 

X

 

X

Securities Lending Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Small Company Risk

                       

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk

 

X

     

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

Value Investment Risk

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

 

X

   

China Investments Risk: There are special risks associated with investments in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Chinese government has implemented significant economic reforms in order to liberalize trade policy, promote foreign investment in the economy, reduce government control of the economy and develop market mechanisms. But there can be no assurance that these reforms will continue or that they will be effective. Despite reforms and privatizations of companies in certain sectors, the Chinese government still exercises substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector and may own or control many companies. The Chinese government continues to maintain a major role in economic policy making and investing in China involves risks of losses due to expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property, and the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested. In addition, investments in Taiwan could be adversely affected by its political and economic relationship with China. The Chinese economy is also vulnerable to the long-running disagreements with Hong Kong related to integration.

Investing in China A-shares through Stock Connect is subject to trading, clearance, settlement, and other procedures, which could pose risks to a fund. Trading through the Stock Connect program is subject to daily quotas that limit the maximum daily net purchases on any particular day, each of which may restrict or preclude a fund's ability to invest in China A-shares through the Stock Connect program. Trading through Stock Connect may require pre-validation of cash or securities prior to acceptance of orders. This requirement may limit a fund's ability to dispose of its A-shares purchased through Stock Connect in a timely manner.

A primary feature of the Stock Connect program is the application of the home market’s laws and rules applicable to investors in China A-shares. Therefore, a fund's investments in Stock Connect China A-shares are generally subject to the securities regulations and listing rules of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”), among other restrictions. Stock Connect can only operate when both PRC and Hong Kong markets are open for trading and when banking services are available in both markets on the corresponding settlement days. As such, the Shanghai and Shenzhen

84


markets may be open at a time when Stock Connect is not trading, with the result that prices of China A-shares may fluctuate at times when a fund is unable to add to or exit its position, which could adversely affect a fund's performance.

Changes in the operation of the Stock Connect program may restrict or otherwise affect a fund's investments or returns. Furthermore, any changes in laws, regulations and policies of the China A-shares market or rules in relation to Stock Connect may affect China A-share prices. These risks are heightened generally by the developing state of the PRC’s investment and banking systems and the uncertainty about the precise nature of the rights of equity owners and their ability to enforce such rights under Chinese law. An investment in China A-Shares is also generally subject to the risks identified under “Emerging Markets Risk,” and foreign investment risks such as price controls, expropriation of assets, confiscatory taxation, and nationalization may be heightened when investing in China. Certain investments in Chinese companies may be made through a special structure known as a VIE. In a VIE structure, foreign investors, such as a fund, will only own stock in a shell company rather than directly in the VIE, which must be owned by Chinese nationals (and/or Chinese companies) to obtain the licenses and/or assets required to operate in certain restricted or prohibited sectors in China. The value of the shell company is derived from its ability to consolidate the VIE into its financials pursuant to contractual arrangements that allow the shell company to exert a degree of control over, and obtain economic benefits arising from, the VIE without formal legal ownership. While VIEs are a longstanding industry practice and are well known by Chinese officials and regulators, historically the structure has not been formally recognized under Chinese law and Chinese regulations regarding the structure are evolving. It is uncertain whether Chinese officials or regulators will withdraw their acceptance of the structure generally, or with respect to certain industries. It is also uncertain whether the contractual arrangements, which may be subject to conflicts of interest between the legal owners of the VIE and foreign investors, would be enforced by Chinese courts or arbitration bodies. Prohibitions of these structures by the Chinese government, or the inability to enforce such contracts, from which the shell company derives its value, would likely cause the VIE-structured holding(s) to suffer significant, detrimental, and possibly permanent losses, and in turn, adversely affect a fund's returns and net asset value.

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause a fund and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Depositary Receipts Risk: Depositary receipts, such as EDRs, GDRs and ADRs, are subject to many of the risks of the underlying securities. For some depositary receipts, the custodian or similar financial institution that holds the issuer’s shares in a trust account is located in the issuer’s home country. In these cases if the issuer’s home country does not have developed financial markets, a fund could be exposed to the credit risk of the custodian or financial institution and greater market risk. In addition, the depository institution may not have physical custody of the underlying securities at all times and may charge fees for various services. The fund may experience delays in receiving its dividend and interest payments or exercising rights as a shareholder. There may be an increased possibility of untimely responses to certain corporate actions of the issuer in an unsponsored depositary receipt program. Accordingly, there may be less information available regarding issuers of securities underlying unsponsored programs and there may not be a correlation between this information and the market value of the depositary receipts.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivatives expose a fund to counterparty risk (the risk that the derivative counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations), including credit risk of the derivative counterparty, and settlement risk (the risk faced when one party to a transaction has performed its obligations under a contract but has not yet received value from its counterparty). The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of a 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. Some derivatives are more sensitive to interest rate changes and market price fluctuations than other securities. A fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, which losses are potentially unlimited. The Advisor may not be able to predict correctly the direction of securities prices, interest rates, currency exchange rates, and other economic factors, which could cause a fund’s derivatives positions

85


to lose value. Valuation of derivatives may also be more difficult in times of market turmoil since many investors and market makers may be reluctant to purchase derivatives or quote prices for them. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested. Additional risks are associated with the use of swaps including counterparty and credit risk (the risk that the other party to a swap agreement will not fulfill its contractual obligations, whether because of bankruptcy or other default) and liquidity risk (the possible lack of a secondary market for the swap agreement). Counterparty risk increases when a fund is a buyer of swaps. Swaps may be illiquid or difficult to value.

Emerging Markets Risk: Securities of issuers associated with emerging market countries, including, but not limited to, issuers that are organized under the laws of, maintain a principal place of business in, derive significant revenues from, or issue securities backed by the government (or, its agencies or instrumentalities) of emerging market countries may be subject to higher and additional risks than securities of issuers in developed foreign markets. These risks include, but are not limited to (i) social, political and economic instability; (ii) government intervention, including policies or regulations that may restrict a fund’s investment opportunities, including restrictions on investment in issuers or industries deemed sensitive to an emerging market country’s national interests; (iii) less transparent and established taxation policies; (iv) less developed legal systems allowing for enforcement of private property rights and/or redress for injuries to private property; (v) the lack of a capital market structure or market-oriented economy; (vi) higher degree of corruption and fraud; (vii) counterparties and financial institutions with less financial sophistication, creditworthiness and/or resources as those in developed foreign markets; and (viii) the possibility that the process of easing restrictions on foreign investment occurring in some emerging market countries may be slowed or reversed by unanticipated economic, political or social events in such countries, or the countries that exercise a significant influence over those countries. Similar to foreign issuers, emerging market issuers may not be subject to uniform accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards and there may be less publicly available financial and other information about such issuers, comparable to U.S. issuers. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade in and generally have higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets are volatile, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. In addition, economies and financial markets throughout the world have become increasingly interconnected, which increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or country will adversely affect markets or issuers in other regions or countries. A fund’s securities may be negatively impacted by inflation (or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products/services or resources, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics, terrorism, war, military confrontations, regulatory events and governmental or quasi-governmental actions, among others.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted, at times, in market closures, market volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand, defaults and credit rating downgrades, and other significant economic impacts. The effects of COVID-19 have impacted global economic activity and may heighten pre-existing political, social and economic risks, domestically or globally. The full impact and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic (or other future epidemics or pandemics) are unpredictable and may adversely affect a fund’s performance.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar).

Foreign issuers may not be subject to uniform accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards and there may be less publicly available financial and other information about such issuers, comparable to U.S. issuers. Certain countries’ legal institutions, financial markets, and services are less developed than those in the U.S. or other major economies. A fund may have greater difficulty voting proxies, exercising shareholder rights, securing dividends and

86


obtaining information regarding corporate actions on a timely basis, pursuing legal remedies, and obtaining judgments with respect to foreign investments in foreign courts than with respect to domestic issuers in U.S. courts.

Fund of Funds Risk: The investment performance of a fund of funds is affected by the investment performance of the underlying funds in which it invests. The ability of a fund of funds to achieve its investment objective depends on the ability of the underlying funds to meet their investment objectives and on the Advisor’s decisions regarding the allocation of a fund of funds’ assets among the underlying funds. A fund of funds may allocate assets to an underlying fund or asset class that underperforms other funds or asset classes. There can be no assurance that the investment objective of a fund of funds or any underlying fund will be achieved. When a fund of funds invests in underlying funds, investors are exposed to a proportionate share of the expenses of those underlying funds in addition to the expenses of the fund of funds. Through its investments in underlying funds, a fund of funds is subject to the risks of the underlying funds’ investments.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by a fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which a fund’s shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

Market Trading Risk: Although shares of a fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained. There are no obligations of market makers to make a market in a fund’s shares or of an authorized participant to submit purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units, which may widen bid-ask spreads. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying value of a fund’s portfolio securities and the fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in fund shares trading at a premium or discount to its NAV and also greater than normal intraday bid/ask spreads. Additionally, in stressed market conditions, the market for a fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the markets for the fund’s portfolio holdings, which may cause a significant variance in the market price of the fund’s shares and their underlying value as well as an increase in the fund’s bid-ask spread.

There can be no assurance that a fund’s shares will continue to trade on a stock exchange or in any market or that the fund’s shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market, or that such requirements will remain unchanged. Secondary market trading in fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or other reasons. In addition, trading in fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to “circuit breaker” rules on the stock exchange or market.

During a “flash crash,” the market prices of a fund’s shares may decline suddenly and significantly. Such a decline may not reflect the performance of the portfolio securities held by a fund. Flash crashes may cause authorized participants and other market makers to limit or cease trading in a fund’s shares for temporary or longer periods. Shareholders could suffer significant losses to the extent that they sell shares at these temporarily low market prices. Shares of a fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility associated with short selling.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Premium/Discount Risk: Shares of a fund may trade at prices other than NAV. Shares of a fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below their most recent NAV. The NAV of a fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the fund’s holdings since the most recent calculation. The trading prices of a fund’s shares fluctuate continuously throughout trading hours based on market supply and demand rather than NAV. As a result, the trading prices of a fund’s shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility.

87


Any of these factors, among others, may lead to a fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of a fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The Advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, the Advisor believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of a fund are not likely to be sustained over the long-term. While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it likely that a fund’s shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the fund’s next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the fund’s NAV due to timing reasons as well as market supply and demand factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions or extreme market volatility may result in trading prices for shares of a fund that differ significantly from its NAV.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Risks of Concentrating in the Real Estate Industry: A fund that concentrates (i.e., invests more than 25% of its net assets) its investments in securities of companies in the real estate industry will be exposed to the general risks of direct real estate ownership. The value of securities in the real estate industry can be affected by changes in real estate values and rental income, property taxes, and tax and regulatory requirements. Also, the value of securities in the real estate industry may decline with changes in interest rates. Investing in real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and REIT-like entities involves certain unique risks in addition to those risks associated with investing in the real estate industry in general. REITs and REIT-like entities are dependent upon management skill, may not be diversified, and are subject to heavy cash flow dependency and self-liquidation. Also, many foreign REIT-like entities are deemed for tax purposes as passive foreign investment companies (PFICs), which could result in the receipt of taxable dividends to shareholders at an unfavorable tax rate. REITs and REIT-like entities also are subject to the possibility of failing to qualify for tax free pass-through of income. Also, because REITs and REIT-like entities typically are invested in a limited number of projects or in a particular market segment, these entities are more susceptible to adverse developments affecting a single project or market segment than more broadly diversified investments. The performance of a fund concentrated in the real estate industry may be materially different from the broad equity market.

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, a fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. A 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. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Small Company Risk: Securities of small companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, smaller capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk: Securities of small and mid-cap companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small or mid-cap company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small and mid-cap company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, small and mid-capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause a fund to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

88


Other Information

COMMODITY POOL OPERATOR EXEMPTION

Each Portfolio and Underlying Fund is operated by a person that has claimed an exclusion from the definition of the term “commodity pool operator” under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) with respect to the Portfolios and Underlying Funds described in this Prospectus, and, therefore, such person is not subject to registration or regulation as a pool operator under the CEA with respect to such Portfolios and Underlying Funds.

Securities Loans

Each Portfolio (including a Portfolio that operates as a Fund of Funds, to the extent it holds securities directly) and Underlying Fund is authorized to lend securities to qualified brokers, dealers, banks, and other financial institutions for the purpose of earning additional income. While each Portfolio or Underlying Fund may earn additional income from lending securities, such activity is incidental to the investment objective of the Portfolio or Underlying Fund. For information concerning the revenue from securities lending, see “SECURITIES LENDING REVENUE.” The value of securities loaned may not exceed 331/3% of the value of a Portfolio’s or an Underlying Fund's total assets, which includes the value of collateral received. To the extent a Portfolio or Underlying Fund loans a portion of its securities, the Portfolio or Underlying Fund will receive collateral consisting generally of cash or U.S. government securities. Collateral received will be maintained by marking to market daily and (i) in an amount equal to at least 100% of the current market value of the loaned securities, with respect to securities of the U.S. Government or its agencies, (ii) in an amount generally equal to 102% of the current market value of the loaned securities, with respect to U.S. securities, and (iii) in an amount generally equal to 105% of the current market value of the loaned securities, with respect to foreign securities. Subject to its stated investment policies, each Portfolio and Underlying Fund will generally invest the cash collateral received for the loaned securities in The DFA Short Term Investment Fund (the “Money Market Series”), an affiliated registered money market fund advised by the Advisor for which the Advisor receives a management fee of 0.05% of the average daily net assets of the Money Market Series. Each Portfolio and Underlying Fund also may invest the cash collateral received for the loaned securities in securities of the U.S. Government or its agencies, repurchase agreements collateralized by securities of the U.S. Government or its agencies, and affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds. For purposes of this paragraph, agencies include both agency debentures and agency mortgage-backed securities.

In addition, a Portfolio or Underlying Fund will be able to terminate the loan at any time and will receive reasonable interest on the loan, as well as amounts equal to any dividends, interest or other distributions on the loaned securities. However, dividend income received from loaned securities may not be eligible to be taxed at qualified dividend income rates. See the Portfolios’ or Underlying Funds' Statements of Additional Information (“SAI”) for a further discussion of the tax consequences related to securities lending. Each Portfolio and Underlying Fund will be entitled to recall a loaned security to vote proxies or otherwise obtain rights to vote proxies of loaned securities if the Portfolio or Underlying Fund knows that a material event will occur. In the event of the bankruptcy of the borrower, a Portfolio could experience delay in recovering the loaned securities or only recover cash or a security of equivalent value. See “Principal Risks—Securities Lending Risk” for a discussion of the risks related to securities lending.

Securities Lending Revenue

During the fiscal year ended October 31, 2023, the following Portfolios received the following net revenues from a securities lending program (see “Securities Loans”), which constituted a percentage of the average daily net assets of each Portfolio as follows:

                 

Portfolio

 

Net Revenue*

 

Percentage
of Net
Assets

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

 

$

630,764

     

0.02%

 

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

 

$

1,297,778

     

0.04%

 

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

 

$

263,976

     

0.02%

 

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

 

$

624,523

     

0.10%

 

89


                 

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

 

$

344,549

     

0.03%

 

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

 

$

1,979,108

     

0.08%

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

 

$

53,824

     

0.04%

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

 

$

117,797

     

0.03%

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

 

$

2,002,147

     

0.12%

 

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

 

$

23,995

     

0.00%

 
 

 

* The amounts included in the table above may differ from the amounts disclosed in the Portfolios’ annual reports due to timing differences, reconciliations, and certain other adjustments.

Management of the Portfolios

The Advisor serves as investment advisor to each of the Portfolios and Underlying Funds. Pursuant to an Investment Management Agreement with the Trust on behalf of each Portfolio and Underlying Fund, the Advisor is responsible for the management of each of the Portfolio’s and Underlying Fund's assets. Each of the Portfolios and Underlying Funds is managed using a team approach. The investment team includes the Investment Committee of the Advisor, portfolio managers and trading personnel.

The Investment Committee is composed primarily of certain officers and directors of the Advisor who are appointed annually. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Investment Committee has fourteen members. Investment strategies for the Portfolios and Underlying Funds are set by the Investment Committee, which meets on a regular basis and also as needed to consider investment issues. The Investment Committee also sets and reviews all investment related policies and procedures and approves any changes in regards to approved countries, security types, and brokers.

In accordance with the team approach used to manage the Portfolios and Underlying Funds, the portfolio managers and portfolio traders implement the policies and procedures established by the Investment Committee. The portfolio managers and portfolio traders also make daily investment decisions regarding the Portfolios based on the parameters established by the Investment Committee. The individuals named in a Portfolio’s “INVESTMENT ADVISOR/PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT” section coordinate the efforts of all other portfolio managers or trading personnel with respect to the day-to-day management of such Portfolio.

Mr. Bhagwanjee is a Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor. Mr. Bhagwanjee holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS from Purdue University. Mr. Bhagwanjee joined the Advisor in 2014, has been a portfolio manager since 2017, and has been responsible for the World Equity ETF since inception (2023).

Mr. Collins-Dean is a Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor. Mr. Collins-Dean holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS from Wake Forest University. Mr. Collins-Dean joined the Advisor in 2014, has been a portfolio manager since 2016, and has been responsible for the International Core Equity 2 ETF, Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF, and Global Real Estate ETF since inception (2022).

Mr. Fogdall is Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, a Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor. Mr. Fogdall has an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles and a BS from Purdue University. Mr. Fogdall joined the Advisor as a portfolio manager in 2004 and has been responsible for the Portfolios since inception (2020), with respect to the International Core ETF and Emerging Markets Core ETF; since inception (2023), with respect to the World Equity ETF; and 2022, with respect to each other Portfolio.

Mr. Hohn is a Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor. Mr. Hohn holds an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles, an MS from the University of Southern California and a BS from Iowa State University. Mr. Hohn joined the Advisor in 2012, has been a portfolio manager since 2015, and has been responsible for the Portfolios since inception (2020), with respect to the International Core ETF and Emerging Markets Core ETF; since inception (2023), with respect to the World Equity ETF; and 2022, with respect to each other Portfolio.

90


Mr. Keswani is a Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor. Mr. Keswani holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, an MS from Pennsylvania State University, and a BS from Purdue University. Mr. Keswani joined the Advisor in 2011, has been a portfolio manager since 2013, and has been responsible for the International Small Cap Value ETF, International Small Cap ETF, and International High Profitability ETF since inception (2022).

Ms. Phillips is Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, a member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor. Ms. Phillips holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from the University of Puget Sound. Ms. Phillips joined the Advisor in 2012, has been a portfolio manager since 2014, and has been responsible for the International Core Equity 2 ETF, Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF, and Global Real Estate ETF since inception (2022), the World Equity ETF since inception (2023), and the Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF and Emerging Markets Value ETF since 2024.

Mr. Pu is Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, a member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor. Mr. Pu has an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles, an MS and PhD from Caltech, and a BS from Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Mr. Pu joined the Advisor as a portfolio manager in 2006 and has been responsible for the Emerging Markets Core 2 ETF since inception (2022) and the World Equity ETF since inception (2023).

Mr. Schneider is Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, a member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor. Mr. Schneider holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an MS from the University of Minnesota, and a BS from Iowa State University. Mr. Schneider joined the Advisor in 2011, has been a portfolio manager since 2013, and has been responsible for the International Small Cap Value ETF, International High Profitability ETF, and International Small Cap ETF since inception (2022), and the International Core ETF and Emerging Markets Core ETF since 2024.

Mr. Wren is a Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor. Mr. Wren holds an MBA and an MPA from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Wren joined the Advisor in 2010, has been a portfolio manager since 2018, and has been responsible for the Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF and Emerging Markets Value ETF since inception (2022).

The Portfolios’ SAI provides information about each portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager, and the portfolio manager’s ownership of Portfolio shares.

The Advisor, Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. (“DFAL”), and DFA Australia Limited (“DFA Australia”) provide the Portfolios with a trading department and selects brokers and dealers to effect securities transactions. Securities transactions are placed with a view to obtaining best price and execution. The Advisor may pay compensation, out of the Advisor’s profits and not as an additional charge to a Portfolio, to financial intermediaries to support the sale of Portfolio shares. The Advisor’s address is 6300 Bee Cave Road, Building One, Austin, TX 78746. A discussion regarding the basis for the Board of Trustees approving the Investment Management Agreements and Sub-Advisory Agreements with respect to the Portfolios (excluding the World Equity ETF) is available in the semi-annual report for the Portfolios for the fiscal period ending April 30, 2023, and, with respect to the World Equity ETF, will be available in a future semi-annual report for such Portfolio.

The Advisor has been engaged in the business of providing investment management services since May 1981. The Advisor is currently organized as a Delaware limited partnership and is controlled and operated by its general partner, Dimensional Holdings Inc., a Delaware corporation. The Advisor controls DFAL and DFA Australia. As of January 31, 2024, assets under management for all Dimensional affiliated advisors totaled approximately $674 billion.

The Agreement and Declaration of Trust (the “Declaration”) provides that by virtue of becoming a shareholder of the Trust, each shareholder shall be held expressly to have agreed to be bound by the provisions of the Declaration. However, shareholders should be aware that they cannot waive their rights under the federal securities laws. The Declaration provides a detailed process for the bringing of derivative actions by shareholders for claims other than federal securities law claims beyond the process otherwise required by law. This derivative actions process is intended to permit legitimate inquiries and claims while avoiding the time, expense, distraction, and other harm that can be caused to a Portfolio or its shareholders as a result of spurious shareholder demands and derivative actions. Prior to bringing a derivative action, a demand by the complaining shareholder must first be made on the Trustees.

91


The Declaration details conditions that must be met with respect to the demand. Following receipt of the demand, the Trustees must be afforded a reasonable amount of time to investigate and consider the demand. The Trustees will be entitled to retain counsel or other advisors in considering the merits of the request and shall require an undertaking by the shareholders making such request to reimburse the Trust for the expense of any such advisors in the event that the Trustees determine not to bring such action. The Trust’s process for bringing derivative suits may be more restrictive than other investment companies. The process for derivative actions for the Trust also may make it more expensive for a shareholder to bring a suit than if the shareholder was not required to follow such a process.

The Declaration also requires that actions by shareholders against a Portfolio be brought only in a certain federal court in Texas, or if not permitted to be brought in federal court, then in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as required by applicable law, or the Superior Court of Delaware (the “Exclusive Jurisdictions”), and that the right to jury trial be waived to the fullest extent permitted by law. Other investment companies may not be subject to similar restrictions. In addition, the designation of Exclusive Jurisdictions may make it more expensive for a shareholder to bring a suit than if the shareholder was permitted to select another jurisdiction. Also, the designation of Exclusive Jurisdictions and the waiver of jury trials limit a shareholder’s ability to litigate a claim in the jurisdiction and in a manner that may be more favorable to the shareholder. A court may choose not to enforce these provisions of the Declaration.

UNITARY FEES

Each of the International Core ETF and Emerging Core ETF (the “Unitary Portfolios”) pays the Advisor a unified management fee for managing the Unitary Portfolio’s assets. Pursuant to the investment management agreement with the Trust, on behalf of each Unitary Portfolio, the Advisor is responsible for substantially all ordinary fund operating expenses, except for (i) payments under the Unitary Portfolio’s 12b-1 plan (if any); (ii) brokerage expenses (including any costs incidental to transactions in portfolio securities, instruments and other investments); (iii) taxes; (iv) interest expenses (including borrowing costs and dividend expenses on securities sold short and overdraft charges); (v) litigation expenses (including litigation to which the Trust or Portfolio may be a party and indemnification of the Trustees and officers with respect thereto); (vi) Trustees’ fees and expenses; (vii) legal expenses of counsel to the Independent Trustees; (viii) Chief Compliance Officer (“CCO”) compensation; (ix) acquired fund fees and expenses (if any); and (x) other non-routine or extraordinary expenses. The fee is equal to the following annual rate based on the net assets of a Unitary Portfolio:

   

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

0.18%

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

0.35%

Pursuant to a separate contractual arrangement, the Advisor arranges for the provision of CCO services with respect to each Unitary Portfolio, and is liable and responsible for, and administers, payments to the CCO, the Independent Trustees and counsel to the Independent Trustees. The Advisor receives a fee of up to 0.0044% of each Unitary Portfolio’s average daily net assets for providing such services and paying such expenses. The Advisor provides CCO services to the Trust.

MANAGEMENT FEES

The “Annual Fund Operating Expenses” table describes the fees incurred by each non-Unitary Portfolio (excluding the World Equity ETF) for the services provided by the Advisor for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2023. The “Management Fee” listed in the “Annual Fund Operating Expenses” table for each non-Unitary Portfolio (excluding the World Equity ETF) provides the investment management fee that was payable by the Portfolio to the Advisor.

The “Annual Fund Operating Expenses” table describes the anticipated fees to be incurred by the World Equity ETF for the services provided by the Advisor for the first full fiscal year.

The Advisor, not the Portfolios, compensates the sub-advisors.

Sub-Advisors

The Advisor has entered into Sub-Advisory Agreements with DFAL and DFA Australia, respectively, with respect to each Portfolio. Pursuant to the terms of each Sub-Advisory Agreement, DFAL and DFA Australia each have the

92


authority and responsibility to select brokers or dealers to execute securities transactions for each Portfolio. Each Sub-Advisor’s duties include the maintenance of a trading desk and the determination of the best and most efficient means of executing securities transactions. On at least a semi-annual basis, the Advisor will review the holdings of each Portfolio and review the trading process and the execution of securities transactions. The Advisor is responsible for determining those securities that are eligible for purchase and sale by a Portfolio and may delegate this task, subject to its own review, to DFAL and DFA Australia. DFAL and DFA Australia maintain and furnish to the Advisor information and reports on securities of companies in certain markets, including recommendations of securities to be added to the securities that are eligible for purchase by each Portfolio, as well as making recommendations and elections on corporate actions. DFA Australia has been a U.S. federally registered investment advisor since 1994 and is located at Level 43 Gateway, 1 Macquarie Place, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia. DFAL has been a U.S. federally registered investment advisor since 1991 and is located at 20 Triton Street, Regent’s Place, London NW13BF, United Kingdom.

Manager of Managers Structure

The Advisor and the Trust have received an exemptive order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for a manager of managers structure that allows the Advisor to appoint, remove or change Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisors (defined below), and enter into, amend and terminate sub-advisory agreements with Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisors, without prior shareholder approval, but subject to Board approval. A “Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisor” includes sub-advisors that are wholly-owned by the Advisor (i.e., (1) an indirect or direct “wholly-owned subsidiary” (as such term is defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”)) of the Advisor, or (2) a sister company of the Advisor that is an indirect or direct “wholly-owned subsidiary” (as such term is defined in the 1940 Act) of the same company that, indirectly or directly, wholly owns the Advisor) (“Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisors”). The Board only will approve a change with respect to sub-advisors if the Board concludes that such arrangements would be in the best interests of the shareholders of a Portfolio. If a new Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisor is hired for a Portfolio, shareholders will receive information about the new sub-advisor within 90 days of the change. The exemptive order allows greater flexibility for the Advisor to utilize, if desirable, personnel throughout the worldwide organization enabling a Portfolio to operate more efficiently. The Advisor will not hire unaffiliated sub-advisors without prior shareholder approval and did not request the ability to do so in its application to the SEC for an exemptive order to allow the manager of managers structure.

The use of the manager of managers structure with respect to a Portfolio is subject to certain conditions set forth in the SEC exemptive order. Under the manager of managers structure, the Advisor has the ultimate responsibility, subject to oversight by the Board, to oversee the Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisors and recommend their hiring, termination and replacement. The Advisor will provide general management services to a Portfolio, including overall supervisory responsibility for the general management and investment of the Portfolio’s assets. Subject to review and approval of the Board, the Advisor will (a) set a Portfolio’s overall investment strategies, (b) evaluate, select, and recommend Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisors to manage all or a portion of a Portfolio’s assets, and (c) implement procedures reasonably designed to ensure that Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisors comply with a Portfolio’s investment objective, policies and restrictions. Subject to review by the Board, the Advisor will (a) when appropriate, allocate and reallocate a Portfolio’s assets among multiple Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisors; and (b) monitor and evaluate the performance of Dimensional Wholly-Owned Sub-advisors.

FEE WAIVER AND EXPENSE ASSUMPTION AGREEMENTS

Pursuant to a Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for each Portfolio (excluding the Unitary Portfolios), the Advisor has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio, as described below. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Trust’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement shall continue in effect from year to year thereafter unless terminated by the Trust or the Advisor. With respect to each Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement, prior year waived fees and/or assumed expenses can be recaptured only if the expense ratio following such recapture would be less than the expense cap that was in place when such prior year fees were waived and/or expenses assumed, and less than the current expense cap in place for the Portfolio. The Portfolio is not obligated to reimburse the Advisor for fees previously waived or expenses previously assumed by the Advisor more than thirty-six months before the date of such reimbursement.

93


The Advisor has contractually agreed to waive all or a portion of its management fee and assume the ordinary operating expenses of each of the following Portfolios (excluding the expenses that the Portfolio incurs indirectly through its investment in other investment companies) (“Portfolio Expenses”) to the extent necessary to limit the Portfolio Expenses of each Portfolio, on an annualized basis, to the rates listed below as a percentage of the respective Portfolio’s average net assets (the “Expense Limitation Amount”). At any time that the Portfolio Expenses of a Portfolio are less than the Expense Limitation Amount for the Portfolio, the Advisor retains the right to recover any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed to the extent that such recovery will not cause the annualized Portfolio Expenses for such Portfolio to exceed the applicable Expense Limitation Amount identified below.

   

Portfolio

Expense Limitation Amount

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

0.23%

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

0.42%

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

0.39%

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

0.29%

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

0.41%

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

0.43%

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

0.39%

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

0.22%

World Equity ETF

The Advisor has contractually agreed to waive all or a portion of its management fee and assume the ordinary operating expenses of the World Equity ETF (including the expenses incurred through its investment in other investment companies but excluding the expenses that the Portfolio incurs through investment of its securities lending cash collateral in The DFA Short Term Investment Fund) (“Portfolio Expenses”) to the extent necessary to limit the Portfolio Expenses of the Portfolio, on an annualized basis, to the rate listed below as a percentage of the Portfolio’s average net assets (the “Expense Limitation Amount”). At any time that the Portfolio Expenses of the Portfolio are less than the Expense Limitation Amount for the Portfolio, the Advisor retains the right to recover any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed to the extent that such recovery will not cause the annualized Portfolio Expenses for the Portfolio to exceed the applicable Expense Limitation Amount identified below.

   

Portfolio

Expense Limitation Amount

Dimensional World Equity ETF

0.25%

Dividends, Capital Gains Distributions and Taxes

Dividends and Distributions. Each Portfolio intends to qualify each year as a regulated investment company under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. As a regulated investment company, a Portfolio generally pays no federal income tax on the income and gains it distributes. Dividends from net investment income of the Portfolios are distributed quarterly (on a calendar basis) and any net realized capital gains (after any reductions for available capital loss carryforwards) are distributed annually, typically in December. The International Core Equity 2 ETF, Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF, and Global Real Estate ETF, and any other Portfolio that becomes an investment option for the Advisor's funds of funds in the future, may also make an additional dividend distribution from net investment income in October of each year. A Portfolio may distribute such income dividends and capital gains more frequently, if necessary, in order to reduce or eliminate federal excise or income taxes on the Portfolio.

Capital gains distributions may vary considerably from year to year as a result of a Portfolio’s normal investment activities and cash flows. During a time of economic volatility, a Portfolio may experience capital losses and unrealized depreciation in value of investments, the effect of which may be to reduce or eliminate capital gains

94


distributions for a period of time. A Portfolio may be required to distribute taxable realized gains from a prior year, even if the Portfolio has a net realized loss for the year of distribution.

Distributions may be reinvested automatically in additional whole shares only if the broker through whom you purchased shares makes such option available.

Annual Statements. Each year, you will receive a statement that shows the tax status of distributions you received the previous calendar year. Distributions declared in October, November, or December to shareholders of record in such month, but paid in January, are taxable as if they were paid in December.

Avoid “Buying A Dividend.” At the time you purchase your Portfolio shares, a Portfolio’s NAV may reflect undistributed income or undistributed capital gains. A subsequent distribution to you of such amounts, although constituting a return of your investment, would be taxable. Buying shares in a Portfolio just before it declares an income dividend or capital gains distribution is sometimes known as “buying a dividend.” In addition, a Portfolio’s NAV may, at any time, reflect net unrealized appreciation, which may result in future taxable distributions to you.

Tax Considerations. In general, if you are a taxable investor, Portfolio distributions are taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both. This is true whether you reinvest your distributions in additional Portfolio shares or receive them in cash. Also, unless otherwise indicated, the discussion below with respect to World Equity ETF includes its pro rata share of the dividends and distributions paid by its Underlying Funds.

For federal income tax purposes, Portfolio distributions of short-term capital gains are taxable to you at ordinary income rates. Portfolio distributions of long-term capital gains are taxable to you at long-term capital gain rates no matter how long you have owned your shares. A portfolio with a high portfolio turnover rate (a measure of how frequently assets within a portfolio are bought and sold) is more likely to generate short-term capital gains than a portfolio with a low portfolio turnover. A portion of income dividends reported by a Portfolio as qualified dividend income may be eligible for taxation by individual shareholders at long-term capital gain rates provided certain holding period requirements are met.

Compared to other types of investments, derivatives may be less tax efficient. For example, the use of derivatives by a Portfolio may cause the Portfolio to realize higher amounts of ordinary income or short-term capital gain, distributions from which are taxable to individual shareholders at ordinary income tax rates rather than at the more favorable tax rates for long-term capital gains. Changes in government regulation of derivative instruments could affect the character, timing and amount of a Portfolio’s taxable income or gains, and may limit or prevent the Portfolio from using certain types of derivative instruments as a part of its investment strategy. A Portfolio’s use of derivatives also may be limited by the requirements for taxation of the Portfolio as a regulated investment company.

If a Portfolio qualifies to pass through the tax benefits from foreign taxes it pays on its investments, and elects to do so, then any foreign taxes it pays on these investments will be treated as paid by you. You will then be entitled either to deduct your share of these taxes in computing your taxable income, or to claim a foreign tax credit for these taxes against your U.S. federal income tax (subject to limitations for certain shareholders).

Sale of Portfolio Shares. The sale of shares of a Portfolio is a taxable event and may result in a capital gain or loss to you. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Portfolio shares generally is treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for one year or less. Any loss incurred on the sale or exchange of a Portfolio’s shares, held for six months or less, will be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of capital gain dividends received with respect to such shares. The ability to deduct capital losses may be limited.

Creation Units. An authorized participant who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize a gain or a loss. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time of purchase (plus any cash received by the authorized participant as part of the issue) and the authorized participant’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered (plus any cash paid by the authorized participant as part of the issue). An authorized participant who exchanges Creation Units for securities generally will recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the authorized participant’s basis in the Creation Units (plus any cash paid by the authorized participant as part of the redemption) and the aggregate market value of the securities received (plus any cash received by the authorized participant as part of the redemption). The Internal Revenue Service, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units cannot be deducted currently under

95


the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Persons exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisor with respect to whether the wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible.

Under current federal tax laws, any capital gain or loss realized upon redemption of Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year and as a short-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for one year or less, assuming such Creation Units are held as a capital asset.

If a Portfolio redeems Creation Units in cash, it may recognize more capital gains than it will if it redeems Creation Units in-kind.

Medicare Tax. An additional 3.8% Medicare tax is imposed on certain net investment income (including ordinary dividends and capital gain distributions received from a Portfolio and net gains from redemptions or other taxable dispositions of Portfolio shares) of U.S. individuals, estates and trusts to the extent that such person’s “modified adjusted gross income” (in the case of an individual) or “adjusted gross income” (in the case of an estate or trust) exceeds a threshold amount. This Medicare tax, if applicable, is reported by you on, and paid with, your federal income tax return.

Backup Withholding. By law, a 24% withholding tax may apply to taxable dividends, capital gains distributions, and redemption proceeds paid to you if you do not provide your proper taxpayer identification number and certain required certifications. You may avoid this withholding requirement by providing and certifying on the account registration form your correct Taxpayer Identification Number and by certifying that you are not subject to backup withholding and are a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). Withholding is also imposed if the Internal Revenue Service requires it.

State and Local Taxes. In addition to federal taxes, you may be subject to state and local taxes on distributions from a Portfolio and on gains arising on redemption or exchange of a Portfolio’s shares. Distributions of interest income and capital gains realized from certain types of U.S. Government securities may be exempt from state personal income taxes.

Non-U.S. Investors. Non-U.S. investors may be subject to U.S. withholding tax, at either the 30% statutory rate or a lower rate if you are a resident of a country that has a tax treaty with the U.S., and are subject to special U.S. tax certification requirements to avoid backup withholding and claim any treaty benefits. Exemptions from U.S. withholding tax are provided for certain capital gain dividends paid by a Portfolio from net long-term capital gains, if any, interest-related dividends paid by a Portfolio from its qualified net interest income from U.S. sources and short-term capital gain dividends, if such amounts are reported by a Portfolio. However, notwithstanding such exemptions from U.S. withholding at the source, any such dividends and distributions of income and capital gains will be subject to backup withholding at a rate of 24% if you fail to properly certify that you are not a U.S. person. Non-U.S. investors also may be subject to U.S. estate tax.

Other Reporting and Withholding Requirements. Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”), a 30% withholding tax is imposed on income dividends made by the Portfolio to certain foreign entities, referred to as foreign financial institutions or non-financial foreign entities, that fail to comply (or be deemed compliant) with extensive reporting and withholding requirements designed to inform the U.S. Department of the Treasury of U.S.-owned foreign investment accounts. After December 31, 2018, FATCA withholding also would have applied to certain capital gain distributions, return of capital distributions and the proceeds arising from the sale of Portfolio shares; however, based on proposed regulations issued by the Internal Revenue Service, which may be relied upon currently, such withholding is no longer required unless final regulations provide otherwise (which is not expected). Information about a Portfolio shareholder may be disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service, non-U.S. taxing authorities or other parties as necessary to comply with FATCA or similar laws. Withholding also may be required if a foreign entity that is a shareholder of a Portfolio fails to provide the appropriate certifications or other documentation concerning its status under FATCA.

SPECIAL TAX CONSIDERATIONS FOR INVESTORS THAT INVEST IN THE GLOBAL REAL ESTATE ETF.

PFIC Securities. The Portfolio may invest in securities of foreign entities that could be deemed for tax purposes to be PFICs. In general, any foreign corporation is considered a PFIC if 75% or more of its gross income for its taxable year

96


is passive income, or 50% or more of its average assets (by value) are held for the production of passive income. When investing in PFIC securities, the Portfolio intends to mark-to-market these securities and recognize any unrealized gains as ordinary income at the end of its fiscal year. Deductions for losses are allowable only to the extent of any current or previously recognized gains. These gains (reduced by allowable losses) are treated as ordinary income that the Portfolio is required to distribute, even though it has not sold or received dividends from these securities. You should also be aware that the designation of a foreign security as a PFIC security will cause its income dividends to fall outside of the definition of qualified foreign corporation dividends. These dividends generally will not qualify for the reduced rate of taxation on qualified dividends when distributed to you by the Portfolio. Due to various complexities in identifying PFICs, the Portfolio can give no assurances that it will be able to identify portfolio securities in foreign corporations that are PFICs in time for the Portfolio to make a mark-to-market election. If the Portfolio is unable to identify an investment as a PFIC and thus does not make a mark-to-market election, the Portfolio may be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a portion of any “excess distribution” or gain from the disposition of such shares even if such income is distributed as a taxable dividend by the Portfolio to its shareholders. Additional charges in the nature of interest may be imposed on the Portfolio in respect of deferred taxes arising from such distributions or gains. Any such taxes or interest charges could in turn reduce the Portfolio’s distributions paid to you.

Investment in U.S. REITS. A U.S. REIT is not subject to federal income tax on the income and gains it distributes to shareholders. Dividends paid by a U.S. REIT, other than capital gain distributions, will be taxable as ordinary income up to the amount of the U.S. REIT’s current and accumulated earnings and profits. Capital gain dividends paid by a U.S. REIT to the Portfolio will be treated as long-term capital gains by the Portfolio and, in turn, may be distributed by the Portfolio to its shareholders as a capital gain distribution. Because of certain noncash expenses, such as property depreciation, an equity U.S. REIT’s cash flow may exceed its taxable income. The equity U.S. REIT, and in turn the Portfolio, may distribute this excess cash to shareholders in the form of a return of capital distribution. However, if a U.S. REIT is operated in a manner that fails to qualify as a REIT, an investment in the U.S. REIT would become subject to double taxation, meaning the taxable income of the U.S. REIT would be subject to federal income tax at the corporate income tax rate without any deduction for dividends paid to shareholders and the dividends would be taxable to shareholders as ordinary income (or possibly as qualified dividend income) to the extent of the U.S. REIT’s current and accumulated earnings and profits.

Receipt of Excess Inclusion Income by the Portfolio. The Portfolio may derive “excess inclusion income” from certain equity interests in mortgage pooling vehicles either directly or through an investment in a U.S. REIT. Please see the SAI for a discussion of the risks and special tax consequences to tax-exempt and other shareholders in the event the Portfolio realizes excess inclusion income in excess of certain threshold amounts.

Investment in U.S. Real Property. The sale of a U.S. real property interest by a U.S. REIT or U.S. real property holding corporation in which the Portfolio invests may trigger special tax consequences to the Portfolio’s non-U.S. investors. Please see the SAI for a discussion of the risks and special tax consequences to shareholders from a sale of a U.S. real property interest by a U.S. REIT or U.S. real property holding corporation in which the Portfolio invests.

Qualified REIT dividends. Under 2017 legislation commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, “qualified REIT dividends” (i.e., ordinary REIT dividends other than capital gain dividends and portions of REIT dividends designated as qualified dividend income) are treated as eligible for a 20% deduction by noncorporate taxpayers.

The Portfolio may choose to report the special character of “qualified REIT dividends” to its shareholders, provided both the Portfolio and the shareholder meets certain holding period requirements with respect to their shares.

This discussion of “DIVIDENDS, CAPITAL GAINS DISTRIBUTIONS AND TAXES” is not intended or written to be used as tax advice. Because everyone’s tax situation is unique, you should consult your tax professional about federal, state, local or foreign tax consequences before making an investment in a Portfolio. Prospective investors should also consult the SAI.

Purchase and Sale of Shares

Shares of a Portfolio may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Portfolio only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the “Creations and Redemptions” section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant (defined below) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with a Portfolio. An “Authorized

97


Participant” is either a “participating party” (i.e., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation) or a Depository Trust Company participant who, in either case, has executed an agreement with the distributor and transfer agent with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Units. Once created, shares of a Portfolio generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.

Shares of a Portfolio are listed for trading on a national securities exchange during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly traded companies. However, there can be no guarantee that an active trading market will develop or be maintained, or that a Portfolio’s shares listing will continue or remain unchanged. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of a Portfolio purchased on an exchange. Shares of the Portfolios trade under the following symbols:

   

Portfolio 

Ticker:

 

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

DFAI

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

DFIC

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

DISV

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

DFIS

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

DIHP

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

DFAE

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

DEHP

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

DFEV

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

DFEM

 

Dimensional World Equity ETF

DFAW

 

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

DFGR

Buying or selling a Portfolio’s shares on an exchange involves certain costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of a Portfolio through a financial intermediary, you may incur a brokerage commission or other charges determined by your financial intermediary. Due to these brokerage costs, if any, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment returns. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may also incur the cost of the “spread” (the difference between the bid price and the ask price). The spread varies over time for shares of a Portfolio based on its trading volume and market liquidity and is generally less if the Portfolio has more trading volume and market liquidity and more if the Portfolio has less trading volume and market liquidity. Because shares of the Portfolios trade at market price rather than NAV, an investor may pay more than NAV when purchasing shares and receive less than NAV when selling Portfolio shares. Authorized Participants may acquire Portfolio shares directly from a Portfolio, and Authorized Participants may tender their shares for redemption directly to a Portfolio, at NAV per share only in Creation Units, and in accordance with the procedures described in the SAI.

The Portfolios’ primary listing exchanges are listed below (each, an “Exchange” and collectively, the “Exchanges”):

   

Portfolio

Exchange:

   

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

NYSE Arca, Inc.

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

NYSE Arca, Inc.

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

NYSE Arca, Inc.

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

NYSE Arca, Inc.

98


   

Portfolio

Exchange:

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

NYSE Arca, Inc.

 

Dimensional World Equity ETF

NYSE Arca, Inc.

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

NYSE Arca, Inc.

Each Exchange is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

The Board has not adopted a policy of monitoring for frequent purchases and redemptions of Portfolio shares (“frequent trading”) that appear to attempt to take advantage of potential arbitrage opportunities presented by a lag between a change in the value of a Portfolio’s portfolio securities after the close of the primary markets for the Portfolio’s portfolio securities and the reflection of that change in the Portfolio’s NAV (“market timing”) because each Portfolio sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, subject to the conditions described below under “Creations and Redemptions.” The Board has not adopted a policy of monitoring for other frequent trading activity because shares of the Portfolios are listed for trading on a national securities exchange.

SHARE PRICE

The trading prices of a Portfolio’s shares in the secondary market will fluctuate continuously throughout trading hours based on the supply of and demand for Portfolio shares and shares of underlying securities held by a Portfolio, economic conditions and other factors, rather than a Portfolio’s NAV, which is calculated at the end of each business day. Portfolio shares will trade on an Exchange at prices that may be above (i.e., at a premium) or below (i.e., at a discount), to varying degrees, the daily NAV of a Portfolio’s shares. The trading prices of a Portfolio’s shares may deviate significantly from the Portfolio’s NAV during periods of market volatility. Given, however, that a Portfolio’s shares can be issued and redeemed daily in Creation Units, the Advisor believes that large discounts and premiums to NAV should not be sustained over long periods.

Each Exchange will disseminate, every fifteen seconds during the regular trading day, an indicative optimized portfolio value (“IOPV”) relating to a Portfolio. The IOPV calculations are estimates of the value of a Portfolio’s NAV per share. Premiums and discounts between the IOPV and the market price may occur. This should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV per share. The IOPV is based on the current market value of the published basket of portfolio securities and/or cash required to be deposited in exchange for a Creation Unit and does not necessarily reflect the precise composition of a Portfolio’s actual portfolio at a particular point in time. Moreover, the IOPV is generally determined by using current market quotations and/or price quotations obtained from broker-dealers and other market intermediaries and valuations based on current market rates. The IOPV may not be calculated in the same manner as the NAV, which (i) is computed only once a day, (ii) unlike the calculation of the IOPV, takes into account Portfolio expenses, and (iii) may be subject, in accordance with the requirements of the 1940 Act, to fair valuation at different prices than those used in the calculations of the IOPV. The IOPV price is based on quotes and closing prices from the securities’ local market converted into U.S. dollars at the current currency rates and may not reflect events that occur subsequent to the local market’s close. Therefore, the IOPV may not reflect the best possible valuation of a Portfolio’s current portfolio. Neither the Portfolio nor the Advisor or any of their affiliates are involved in, or responsible for, the calculation or dissemination of such IOPVs and make no warranty as to their accuracy. In the future, the dissemination of the IOPV may be discontinued.

BOOK ENTRY

Shares of the Portfolios are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Portfolios.

Investors owning shares of the Portfolios are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for shares of the Portfolios. DTC participants include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of

99


shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other securities that you hold in book-entry or “street name” form.

NET ASSET VALUE

The following discussion applies to each Portfolio, and to the extent a Portfolio operates as a Fund of Funds, its Underlying Funds. The value of the shares of each Portfolio will fluctuate in relation to its own investment experience (or, to the extent a Portfolio operates as a Fund of Funds, its Underlying Funds). The NAV per share of each Portfolio is normally calculated once daily after the close of the Exchange on which the Portfolio is listed for trading (normally, 4:00 p.m. ET) by dividing the total value of the Portfolio’s investments and other assets, less any liabilities, by the total outstanding shares of beneficial interest of the Portfolio. Note: The time at which transactions and shares are priced may be changed in case of an emergency or if the Exchange on which the Portfolio is listed for trading closes at a time other than 4:00 p.m. ET or in other situations to the extent permitted by the SEC.

Securities held by the Portfolios will be valued in accordance with applicable laws and procedures approved by the Board, and generally, as described below. Each Portfolio generally calculates its NAV per share and accepts purchase and redemption orders of Creation Units on days that the Exchange on which the Portfolio is listed is open for trading. On days when the Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Portfolios may require orders to be placed earlier in the day.

Securities held by the Portfolios (including exchange-traded investment companies and over-the-counter securities) are valued at, as applicable: (1) the official closing price on the exchange or market where the security is principally traded; or (2) the last reported sale price prior to that day’s close. Securities held by the Portfolios that are listed on Nasdaq are valued at the Nasdaq Official Closing Price (“NOCP”). If there is no last reported sales price or official closing price of the day, the Portfolios value the securities at the mean between the most recent quoted bid and asked prices. Price information on listed securities is taken from the exchange where the security is primarily traded. Generally, options will be valued using the same pricing methods discussed above. Generally, securities issued by open-end investment companies (excluding exchange-traded investment companies) are valued using their respective net asset values or public offering prices, as appropriate, for purchase orders placed at the close of the NYSE.

The value of the securities and other assets of the Portfolios for which no market quotations are readily available (including restricted securities), or for which market quotations have become unreliable, are determined in good faith at fair value in accordance with Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act pursuant to procedures approved by the Board. Fair value pricing may also be used if events that have a significant effect on the value of an investment (as determined in the discretion of the Advisor) occur before the net asset value is calculated. When fair value pricing is used, the prices of securities used by the Portfolios may differ from the quoted or published prices for the same securities on their primary markets or exchanges.

Valuing securities at fair value involves greater reliance on judgment than valuing securities that have readily available market quotations. There can be no assurance that a Portfolio could obtain the fair value assigned to a security if it were to sell the security at approximately the time at which the Portfolio determines its net asset value per share. As a result, the sale or redemption by a Portfolio of its shares at net asset value, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders.

To the extent that a Portfolio holds large numbers of securities, it is likely that it will have a larger number of securities that may be deemed illiquid and therefore must be valued pursuant to fair value pricing procedures approved by the Board than would a fund that holds a smaller number of securities. Portfolios that invest in small capitalization companies are more likely to hold illiquid securities than would a fund that invests in larger capitalization companies.

For the Portfolios, the prices of securities traded in foreign currencies will be expressed in U.S. dollars by using the mid-rate prices for the U.S. dollar as quoted by generally recognized reliable sources at 4 p.m. London time. Because the Portfolios own securities that are primarily traded in foreign markets which may trade on days when the Portfolios do not price their shares, the net asset value of the Portfolios may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or redeem shares.

100


Certain of the securities holdings of the Emerging Markets Core, Emerging Markets High Profitability, Emerging Markets Value, Emerging Markets Core 2, World Equity, and Global Real Estate ETFs may be subject to tax, investment, and currency repatriation regulations of the Approved Markets that could have a material effect on the values of the securities. For example, the Portfolio might be subject to different levels of taxation on current income and realized gains depending upon the holding period of the securities. In general, a longer holding period (e.g., 5 years) may result in the imposition of lower tax rates than a shorter holding period (e.g., 1 year). A Portfolio may also be subject to certain contractual arrangements with investment authorities in an Approved Market that require the Portfolio to maintain minimum holding periods or to limit the extent of repatriation of income and realized gains.

Futures contracts are valued using the settlement price established each day on the exchange on which they are traded. The value of such futures contracts held by the Portfolios is determined each day as of such close. In the absence of prices that are readily available as defined in Rule 2a-5, the futures contract will be valued in good faith at fair value in accordance with procedures approved by the Board.

Swap agreements will be valued at the price provided by an independent third-party pricing service or source. If a price is not readily available as defined in Rule 2a-5, the swap agreement will be valued in good faith at fair value in accordance with procedures approved by the Board.

Creations and Redemptions

Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of a Portfolio are “created” at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units of the following number of shares, or multiples thereof:

   

Portfolio

Creation Unit

   

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

100,000 shares

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

100,000 shares

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

50,000 shares

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

100,000 shares

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

50,000 shares

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

100,000 shares

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

50,000 shares

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

100,000 shares

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

100,000 shares

 

Dimensional World Equity ETF

5,000 shares

 

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

50,000 shares

All orders to purchase Creation Units must be placed by or through an “Authorized Participant” that has entered into an authorized participant agreement (an “AP Agreement”) with the Portfolios’ distributor (the “Distributor”).

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor or its agents, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into a Portfolio a designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) and a specified amount of cash in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units.

Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) held by a Portfolio and a specified amount of cash. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by a Portfolio.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the AP Agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units directly with a Portfolio. In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to

101


purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to a Portfolio’s instructions or may not be executed at all, or a Portfolio may not be able to place or change orders.

When a Portfolio engages in in-kind transactions, the Portfolio intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”). Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a “qualified institutional buyer,” as such term is defined under Rule 144A of the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant and, in either case, has executed an AP Agreement with the Distributor. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Portfolios’ SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of a Portfolio a “distribution,” as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an “unsold allotment” within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

Premium/Discount Information

Information showing the number of days the market price of a Portfolio’s shares was greater than the Portfolio’s NAV and the number of days it was less than the Portfolio’s NAV (i.e., premium or discount) for various time periods is available by visiting the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/etfs.

Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings

A description of the Trust’s policies and procedures regarding the release of portfolio holdings information is also available in the Trust’s SAI. Portfolio holdings information is available by visiting a Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/etfs.

Delivery of Shareholder Documents

To eliminate duplicate mailings and reduce expenses, certain broker-dealers may deliver a single copy of certain shareholder documents, such as this Prospectus and annual and semi-annual reports, to related shareholders at the same address, even if accounts are registered in different names. This practice is known as “householding.” You may contact your broker-dealer to enroll in householding. Once enrolled, this process will continue indefinitely unless you instruct your broker-dealer otherwise. If you do not want the mailings of these documents to be combined with those of other members of your household, please contact your broker-dealer. At any time you may view current prospectuses and financial reports on a Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/etfs.

Distribution

The Distributor or its agents distribute Creation Units for the Portfolios on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Portfolios.

102


DISTRIBUTION AND SERVICE (12B-1) FEES

The Board has adopted a distribution plan, sometimes known as a Rule 12b-1 plan, that allows a Portfolio to pay distribution fees of up to 0.25% per year, to those who sell and distribute Portfolio shares and provide other services to shareholders. However, the Board has determined not to authorize payment of a Rule 12b-1 plan fee at this time. Because these fees are paid out of a Portfolio’s assets on an ongoing basis, to the extent that a fee is authorized, over time these fees will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than paying other types of sales charges.

Financial Highlights

The Financial Highlights table is meant to help you understand each Portfolio’s financial performance for the past five years or, if shorter, the period of that Portfolio’s operations, as indicated by the table. The total returns in the table represent the rate that you would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Portfolio, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report, along with the Portfolios’ annual financial statements, are included in the Trust's annual report. Further information about each Portfolio’s performance is contained in the annual report, which is available upon request.

103


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

       

 

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

 

Year
ended
October 31, 2023

Year
ended
October 31, 2022

Period
November 17, 2020*
through
October 31, 2021

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$22.83

$29.75

$25.07

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

 

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

0.80

0.83

0.77

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

2.16

(7.02)

4.36

Total from Investment Operations

2.96

(6.19)

5.13

Less Distributions:

 

 

 

Net Investment Income

(0.72)

(0.73)

(0.45)

Total Distributions

(0.72)

(0.73)

(0.45)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$25.07

$22.83

$29.75

Total Return at NAV (b)

12.84%

(21.04)%

20.54%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

13.65%

(21.30)%

21.08%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$3,986,341

$2,257,417

$767,440

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.18%

0.18%

0.18%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.18%

0.18%

0.18%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

2.99%

3.24%

2.78%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

7%

5%

4%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

* Commencement of operations.

104


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

     

 

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

 

Year
ended
October 31, 2023

Period
March 23, 2022*
through
October 31, 2022

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$20.30

$24.95

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

0.74

0.38

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

1.94

(4.82)

Total from Investment Operations

2.68

(4.44)

Less Distributions:

 

 

Net Investment Income

(0.61)

(0.21)

Total Distributions

(0.61)

(0.21)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$22.37

$20.30

Total Return at NAV (b)

13.07%

(17.83)%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

13.85%

(17.71)%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$4,079,884

$1,414,936

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.23%

0.23%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.24%

0.23%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

3.13%

2.95%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

8%

5%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

* Commencement of operations.

105


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

     

 

Dimensional International Small Cap Value ETF

 

Year
ended
October 31, 2023

Period
March 23, 2022*
through
October 31, 2022

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$19.67

$24.94

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

0.80

0.36

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

2.99

(5.47)

Total from Investment Operations

3.79

(5.11)

Less Distributions:

 

 

Net Investment Income

(0.64)

(0.16)

Total Distributions

(0.64)

(0.16)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$22.82

$19.67

Total Return at NAV (b)

19.26%

(20.54)%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

20.35%

(20.42)%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$1,281,622

$472,079

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.42%

0.42%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.43%

0.44%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

3.39%

2.86%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

13%

3%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

* Commencement of operations.

106


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

     

 

Dimensional International Small Cap ETF

 

Year
ended
October 31, 2023

Period
March 23, 2022*
through
October 31, 2022

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$19.47

$25.00

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

0.61

0.28

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

1.27(g)

(5.65)

Total from Investment Operations

1.88

(5.37)

Less Distributions:

 

 

Net Investment Income

(0.50)

(0.16)

Total Distributions

(0.50)

(0.16)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$20.85

$19.47

Total Return at NAV (b)

9.47%

(21.51)%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

10.41%

(21.50)%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$717,154

$323,183

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.39%

0.39%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.40%

0.42%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

2.73%

2.27%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

10%

4%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

(g) Realized and unrealized gains per share are balancing amounts necessary to reconcile the change in net asset value per share for the period, and may not accord with the aggregate gains and losses in the Statements of Operations due to share transactions for the period.

* Commencement of operations.

107


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

     

 

Dimensional International High Profitability ETF

 

Year
ended
October 31, 2023

Period
March 23, 2022*
through
October 31, 2022

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$20.17

$24.97

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

0.64

0.41

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

2.15

(4.94)

Total from Investment Operations

2.79

(4.53)

Less Distributions:

 

 

Net Investment Income

(0.54)

(0.27)

Total Distributions

(0.54)

(0.27)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$22.42

$20.17

Total Return at NAV (b)

13.74%

(18.18)%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

14.47%

(18.08)%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$1,360,848

$458,811

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.29%

0.29%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.29%

0.29%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

2.72%

3.16%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

13%

2%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

* Commencement of operations.

108


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

       

 

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

 

Year
ended
October 31, 2023

Year
ended
October 31, 2022

Period
December 1, 2020*
through
October 31, 2021

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$19.68

$27.48

$25.41

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

 

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

0.70

0.81

0.62

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

1.92

(8.00)

1.75

Total from Investment Operations

2.62

(7.19)

2.37

Less Distributions:

 

 

 

Net Investment Income

(0.65)

(0.61)

(0.30)

Total Distributions

(0.65)

(0.61)

(0.30)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$21.65

$19.68

$27.48

Total Return at NAV (b)

13.18%

(26.50)%

9.33%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

13.20%

(26.36)%

9.57%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$2,885,647

$1,548,815

$395,729

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.35%

0.35%

0.35%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.35%

0.35%

0.35%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

3.05%

3.43%

2.40%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

5%

6%

4%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

* Commencement of operations.

109


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

     

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF

 

Year
ended
October 31, 2023

Period
April 26, 2022*
through
October 31, 2022

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$19.73

$25.03

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

0.85

0.44

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

2.08

(5.55)

Total from Investment Operations

2.93

(5.11)

Less Distributions:

 

 

Net Investment Income

(0.77)

(0.19)

Total Distributions

(0.77)

(0.19)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$21.89

$19.73

Total Return at NAV (b)

14.69%

(20.53)%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

14.62%

(20.25)%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$159,768

$71,014

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.40%

0.41%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.46%

0.65%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

3.67%

3.90%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

18%

—%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

* Commencement of operations.

110


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

     

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

 

Year
ended
October 31, 2023

Period
April 26, 2022*
through
October 31, 2022

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$20.41

$25.04

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

1.07

0.83

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

2.03

(4.91)

Total from Investment Operations

3.10

(4.08)

Less Distributions:

 

 

Net Investment Income

(0.93)

(0.55)

Total Distributions

(0.93)

(0.55)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$22.58

$20.41

Total Return at NAV (b)

15.07%

(16.51)%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

14.82%

(16.08)%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$442,624

$169,367

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.42%

0.43%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.46%

0.47%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

4.52%

7.12%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

18%

2%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

* Commencement of operations.

111


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

     

 

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

 

Year
ended
October 31, 2023

Period
April 26, 2022*
through
October 31, 2022

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$20.13

$25.04

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

0.76

0.49

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

2.11

(5.10)

Total from Investment Operations

2.87

(4.61)

Less Distributions:

 

 

Net Investment Income

(0.62)

(0.30)

Total Distributions

(0.62)

(0.30)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$22.38

$20.13

Total Return at NAV (b)

14.13%

(18.54)%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

13.99%

(18.14)%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$2,360,737

$666,384

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.38%

0.38%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.40%

0.38%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

3.22%

4.22%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

14%

4%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

* Commencement of operations.

112


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

   

 

Dimensional World Equity ETF

 

Period
September 26, 2023(d)
through
October 31, 2023

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$49.31

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

(1.42)

Total from Investment Operations

(1.42)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$47.89

Total Return at NAV (b)

(2.87)%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

(2.79)%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$74,230

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets*(g)

0.25%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)*(g)

0.53%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Loss to Average Net Assets*(g)

(0.06)%(e)

* The Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets is inclusive of acquired fund fees and expenses incurred by the Fund indirectly as a result of Fund’s investment in Underlying Funds as follows:

0.19%

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Commencement of operations.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

(g) Represents the combined ratios for the respective Fund and its respective pro-rata share of its Underlying Funds.

113


Dimensional ETF Trust

Financial Highlights
(for a share outstanding throughout each period)

   

 

Dimensional Global Real Estate ETF

 

Period
December 6, 2022*
through
October 31, 2023

Net Asset Value, Beginning of Period

$24.82

Income From Investment Operations (a)

 

Net Investment Income (Loss)

0.76

Net Gains (Losses) on Securities (Realized and Unrealized)

(3.43)

Total from Investment Operations

(2.67)

Less Distributions:

 

Net Investment Income

(0.53)

Total Distributions

(0.53)

Net Asset Value, End of Period

$21.62

Total Return at NAV (b)

(10.94)%(f)

Total Return at Market (c)

(10.74)%(f)

Net Assets, End of Year (thousands)

$965,326

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets

0.22%(e)

Ratio of Expenses to Average Net Assets (Excluding Fees Waived, Expenses Reimbursed, Previously Waived Fees Recovered by Advisor and/or Fees Paid Indirectly)

0.24%(e)

Ratio of Net Investment Income to Average Net Assets.

3.54%(e)

Portfolio Turnover Rate (d)

9%(f)

(a) Computed using average shares outstanding.

(b) Net asset value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at net asset value. This percentage is not an indication of the performance of a shareholder’s investment in the Fund based on market value due to differences between the market price of the shares and the net asset value per share of the Fund.

(c) Market value total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the market value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, if any, and redemption on the last day of the period at market value. Market value is determined by the composite closing price. Composite closing security price is defined as the last reported sale price from any primary listing market (e.g., NYSE Arca) or participating regional exchanges or markets. The composite closing price is the last reported sale price from any of the eligible sources, regardless of volume and not an average price and may have occurred on a date prior to the close of the reporting period. Market value may be greater or less than net asset value, depending on the Fund’s closing price on the listing market.

(d) Excludes impact of in-kind transactions.

(e) Annualized for periods less than one year.

(f) Not annualized for periods less than one year.

* Commencement of operations.

114


 

[THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

 


 

[THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

 


 

[THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

 


 

Other Available Information

You can find more information about the Trust and its Portfolios in the Portfolios’ SAI and Annual and Semi-Annual Reports.

Statement of Additional Information

The SAI, incorporated herein by reference, supplements, and is technically part of, this Prospectus. It includes an expanded discussion of investment practices, risks, and fund operations.

Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to Shareholders

These reports focus on Portfolio holdings and performance.

The Annual Report also discusses the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Portfolios in its last fiscal year.

How to get these and other materials:

 Your investment advisor or broker-dealer—you are a client of an investment advisor or broker-dealer who has invested in the Portfolios on your behalf.

 The Trust—Call collect at (512) 306-7400.

 Access them on our website at https://www.dimensional.com.

 Access them on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s Internet site at http://www.sec.gov.

 Obtain them, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: [email protected].

   

Dimensional ETF Trust-Registration No. 811-23580

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP
6300 Bee Cave Road, Building One  
Austin, TX 78746
(512) 306-7400