BondBloxxSM ETF Trust
● | BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Industrial Sector ETF | XHYI | NYSE Arca |
● | BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Telecom, Media & Technology Sector ETF | XHYT | NYSE Arca |
● | BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Healthcare Sector ETF | XHYH | NYSE Arca |
● | BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Financial & REIT Sector ETF | XHYF | NYSE Arca |
● | BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Energy Sector ETF | XHYE | NYSE Arca |
● | BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Consumer Cyclicals Sector ETF | XHYC | NYSE Arca |
● | BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Consumer Non-Cyclicals Sector ETF | XHYD | NYSE Arca |
● |
BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Sector Rotation ETF | HYSA | NYSE Arca |
The SEC has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
BondBloxxSM is a service mark of BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation.
Table of Contents
ICE® is a registered trademark of ICE Data Indices, LLC (“IDI”) or its affiliates and is used with permission under license. BofA® is a registered trademark of Bank of America Corporation licensed by Bank of America Corporation and its affiliates (“BofA”), and may not be used without BofA’s prior written approval. These trademarks, together with the “ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index” have been licensed from IDI for use for certain purposes by BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation or its affiliates in connection with the Funds.
i
INDUSTRIAL SECTOR ETF
The BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Industrial Sector ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds in the industrial sector.
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investments)
Management Fees1 | % | |||
Distribution and Service (12b-1) | ||||
Other Expenses | % | |||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | % |
1 |
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
1
The Fund is non-diversified and seeks to track the investment results of the ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Core Industrial Index (the “Index”), which is a rules-based index consisting of U.S. dollar-denominated below investment grade bonds (as determined by ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates (collectively “Index Provider” or “IDI”)) that contains issuers from the industrial sector, including the basic materials, capital goods, transportation and services sub-sectors. Below investment grade bonds are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” The Index is a modified market value-weighted index with a cap on each issuer of 25% of the market capitalization of the Index. This means that Index constituents are capitalization weighted, based on their current amount outstanding, and then adjusted in accordance with the index methodology detailed below. There is no limit to the number of issues in the Index, but as of December 31, 2023, the Index included approximately 464 constituents. The bonds included in the Index are publicly issued in the United States domestic market. Because the Index is reconstituted and rebalanced monthly, the components of the Index are likely to change over time.
The Index is composed of a subset of bonds in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Index components are classified into “large cap” and “small cap” categories. Their weightings are then adjusted based on a capitalization-weighting adjustment formula. See “More Information About the Funds—Index Construction” for more information about the adjustment formula.
As of December 31, 2023, the bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index include U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds, currently in a coupon paying period, that are publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market, and that: (i) are issued by companies having “risk exposure” to countries (i.e., issuers that are subject to the risks of one or more of these countries as a result of the principal country of domicile of the issuers (as determined by the Index Provider)) that are members of the FX-G10, which include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. and their respective territories; (ii) have an average rating of below investment grade (ratings from Fitch Ratings, Inc. (“Fitch”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or S&P Global Ratings are considered; if more than one agency provides a rating, the average rating is attached to the bond); (iii) are registered with the SEC, exempt from registration at issuance, or offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), with or without registration rights; (iv) have at least $250 million of outstanding face value; (v) have an original maturity date of at least 18 months at the time of issuance; (vi) have at least one year to maturity as of the rebalancing date; and (vii) are issued by companies that each derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of industrial assets. There is no upper limit on the maturity of bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index. For more information regarding the Underlying Index, see “More Information About the Funds—Underlying Index” below.
BIM uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “outperform” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing will eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable target index that BIM determines to collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and sector weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Index. There may be instances in which BIM may choose to underweight or overweight a security in the Index, purchase securities not in the Index that BIM believes are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Index in seeking to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or purchase securities not represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.
2
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in high-yield, below-investment grade bonds denominated in U.S. dollars of issuers in the industrial sector, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through derivatives). The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, U.S. Treasury obligations, U.S. Government obligations, U.S. agency securities, securities of other registered investment companies, cash and cash equivalents, as well as in securities not included in its Index, but which BIM believes will help the Fund track its Index.
An issuer is considered to be in the industrial sector if it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of industrial assets.
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BIM. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the bonds in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.
Industry
Concentration Policy.
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s), or similar securities that are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default. High-yield debt securities’ total return and yield may generally be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of investment-grade debt securities. A real or perceived economic downturn or an increase in market interest rates could cause a decline in the value of high-yield debt securities, result in increased redemptions and/or result in increased portfolio turnover, which could result in a decline in the NAV of the Fund, reduce liquidity for certain investments and/or increase costs. High-yield debt securities are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than investment-grade debt securities because there may be no established secondary market. Investments in high-yield debt securities could increase liquidity risk for the fund. In addition, the market for high-yield debt securities could experience sudden and sharp volatility, which is generally associated more with investments in stocks.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares or the Fund’s underlying portfolio securities, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Accordingly, if a shareholder purchases Fund 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.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. In addition, the Index Provider may be subject to business or regulatory changes that impair its ability to continue to operate the Index in its current form.
3
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV or differences between the securities prices used to value the Index and those used by the Fund), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, securities lending earnings, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain qualification for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Index does not. INDEX-BASED EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (“ETFs”) THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN HIGH YIELD SECURITIES MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Bond Risk. The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security typically issued by a corporate or government issuer that has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by corporations and governments to borrow money from investors. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, in which case the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, the Fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a “coupon” rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).
Corporate Bond Risk. The Fund will invest in corporate bonds, which are debt instruments issued by corporations to raise capital. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of an obligation. The Fund invests in fixed income securities of high yield issuers that may exhibit higher levels of credit risk than other types of fixed income instruments.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Limited History of Operations Risk. The Fund has a limited history of operations for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve sufficient scale, it may be liquidated.
Focused Investment Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, sub-sectors, industries, groups of industries, asset classes, markets, regions, countries, or groups of countries, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. In addition, the value of the Fund’s shares may change at different rates compared to the value of shares of a fund with investments in a more diversified mix of sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. An individual sector, sub-sector, industry, group of industries, asset-class, market, region, country, or group of countries may outperform the broader market during particular periods, but may do so with considerably greater volatility than the broader market. In addition, the several industries that constitute a sector or sub-sector or the several countries or markets that constitute a region or group of countries may all react similarly to economic, political, regulatory or other market events. The Fund’s performance could also be affected if the sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries do not perform as expected. Alternatively, a lack of exposure to one or more other sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries may adversely affect performance.
4
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BIM generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets or changing interest rate environments.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low, or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Risks associated with rising interest rates are heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from historically low levels and may continue to raise interest rates. In addition, changes in monetary policy may exacerbate the risks associated with changing interest rates. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Index are substituted, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may “call” or repay the security prior to its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates, which would result in a decline in the Fund’s income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Inflation Risk. Inflation is a sustained rise in overall price levels. Moderate inflation is associated with economic growth, while high inflation can signal an overheated economy. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money (i.e., as inflation increases, the values of the Fund’s assets can decline). Inflation poses a “stealth” threat to investors because it reduces savings and investment returns. Central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, generally attempt to control inflation by regulating the pace of economic activity. They typically attempt to affect economic activity by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. At times, governments may attempt to manage inflation through fiscal policy, such as by raising taxes or reducing spending, thereby reducing economic activity; conversely, governments can attempt to combat deflation with tax cuts and increased spending designed to stimulate economic activity. Inflation rates may change frequently and significantly as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy and changes in economic policies, and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund shareholders. This risk is greater for fixed-income instruments with longer maturities.
Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, the advent of significant inflation, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Industrial Sector Risk. The industrial sector consists of numerous sub-sectors, including the basic materials, capital goods, transportation and services sub-sectors. Industrial companies are affected by supply and demand both for their specific product or service and for industrial sector products in general. Government regulation, world events, exchange rates and economic conditions, technological developments and liabilities for environmental damage and general civil liabilities will likewise affect the performance of these companies. Aerospace and defense companies, a component of the industrial sector, can be significantly affected by government spending policies because companies involved in this sector rely, to a significant extent, on U.S. and foreign government demand for their products and services. Transportation securities, a component of the industrial sector, are cyclical and have occasional sharp price movements which may result from changes in the economy, fuel prices, labor agreements and insurance costs.
5
Basic Materials Sub-Sector Risk. Issuers in the basic materials sub-sector may be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, exchange rate fluctuations, import controls and increased competition. Production of industrial materials often exceeds demand as a result of over-building or economic downturns, leading to poor investment returns. Issuers in the basic materials sub-sector are at risk for environmental damage and product liability claims and may be adversely affected by depletion of resources, interruptions in supplies of certain commodities, delays in technical progress, labor relations and government and environmental regulations.
Capital Goods Sub-Sector Risk. Companies in the capital goods sub-sector include aerospace & defense, building products, construction & engineering, and other manufacturers of capital-intensive products. Companies in the capital goods sub-sector may be affected by fluctuations in the business cycle and by other factors affecting manufacturing demands, including the availability and price of certain commodities. The capital goods sub-sector depends heavily on corporate spending. Companies in the capital goods sub-sector may perform well during times of economic expansion, but as economic conditions worsen, the demand for capital goods may decrease. Many capital goods are sold internationally, and companies in this sub-sector may be affected by market conditions in other countries and regions.
Transportation Sub-Sector Risk. Companies in the transportation sub-sector may be adversely affected by changes in the economy, increases in fuel and operating costs, labor relations, technology developments, exchange rates, insurance costs, industry competition and government regulation. Companies in the transportation sub-sector are also affected by severe weather events, mass casualty accidents or environmental catastrophes, acts of terrorism and other similar events that target or damage transportation infrastructure or vessels, war or risk of war, widespread disruption of technology systems and increasing equipment and operational costs. Such global or regional events and conditions may adversely affect the operations, financial condition and liquidity of companies in the transportation sub-sector and cause insurance premiums to increase dramatically or result in insurance coverage becoming unavailable for certain business lines or assets. Securities of companies in the transportation sub-sector are generally cyclical and occasionally subject to sharp price movements.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Risk of Investing in the United States. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund’s investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, sector, sub-sector, market segment, market, industry, group of industries, country, group of countries, region or asset class.
6
Non-Diversification
Risk.
Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may invest up to an aggregate amount of 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund’s shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund’s NAV. The high yield securities in which the Fund invests may experience greater liquidity challenges than other types of securities during periods of market stress.
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and Authorized Participants are not obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is willing or able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Exchange-Traded Fund and Other Investment Company Risk. The Fund may invest in shares of other investment companies and ETFs. Shareholders bear both their proportionate share of the Fund’s expenses and similar expenses of the underlying investment company or ETF when the Fund invests in shares of another investment company or ETF. The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETF or investment company’s investments. The price and movement of an ETF designed to track an index may not track the index and may result in a loss. In addition, ETFs may trade at a price above (premium) or below (discount) their net asset value, especially during periods of significant market volatility or stress, causing investors to pay significantly more or less than the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio. Certain ETFs traded on exchanges may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the “ask” price quoted by a seller and the “bid” price offered by a buyer.
Management Risk. Because BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund may not be able to fully replicate the Index and may hold securities not included in the Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BIM’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.
Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, Authorized Participants, market makers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and computer, technology or systems failures. The Fund and BIM seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
7
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by the Index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the Fund not fair-valued securities or used a different valuation methodology. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by a lack of current market prices, technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic or computer systems of the Fund, BIM, the Fund’s distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Years | Returns |
---|---|
2023 |
The
Fund’s best and worst calendar quarters
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS
(for the period ended December 31, 2023)
1 Year | Since Inception ( ) |
|||||||
% | % | |||||||
ICE
Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Core Industrial Index ( |
% | % |
8
Management
Investment Adviser. BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation.
Portfolio Managers. Elya Schwartzman and Daniel Goldman (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Schwartzman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since the Fund’s inception. Mr. Goldman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since February 2024.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at a market price. When you buy or sell shares of the Fund, you may be required to pay a brokerage commission, and you may experience tax consequences, including gains or losses, in connection with these transactions. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.bondbloxxetf.com. Further, the website will disclose the Fund’s median bid-ask spread over the most recent thirty calendar days.
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BIM or other related companies have in the past and could in the future pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
9
TECHNOLOGY SECTOR
ETF
The BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Telecom, Media & Technology Sector ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds in the telecommunications, media and technology sector.
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investments)
Management Fees1 | % | |||
Distribution and Service (12b-1) | ||||
Other Expenses | % | |||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | % |
1 |
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The
Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate 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
the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s
performance. For the period from November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023, the
Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
10
The Fund is, non-diversified and seeks to track the investment results of the ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Telecom, Media & Technology Index (the “Index”), which is a rules-based index consisting of U.S. dollar-denominated below investment grade bonds (as determined by ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates (collectively “Index Provider” or “IDI”)) that contains issuers from the telecom, media and technology sector, including the telecommunications, technology & electronics, and media sub-sectors. Below investment grade bonds are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” The Index is a modified market value-weighted index with a cap on each issuer of 25% of the market capitalization of the Index. This means that Index constituents are capitalization weighted, based on their current amount outstanding, and then adjusted in accordance with the index methodology detailed below. There is no limit to the number of issues in the Index, but as of December 31, 2023, the Index included approximately 308 constituents. The bonds included in the Index are publicly issued in the United States domestic market. Because the Index is reconstituted and rebalanced monthly, the components of the Index are likely to change over time.
The Index is composed of a subset of bonds in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Index components are classified into “large cap” and “small cap” categories. Their weightings are then adjusted based on a capitalization-weighting adjustment formula. See “More Information About the Funds—Index Construction” for more information about the adjustment formula.
As of December 31, 2023, the bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index include U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds, currently in a coupon paying period, that are publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market, and that: (i) are issued by companies having “risk exposure” to countries (i.e., issuers that are subject to the risks of one or more of these countries as a result of the principal country of domicile of the issuers (as determined by the Index Provider)) that are members of the FX-G10, which include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. and their respective territories; (ii) have an average rating of below investment grade (ratings from Fitch Ratings, Inc. (“Fitch”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or S&P Global Ratings are considered; if more than one agency provides a rating, the average rating is attached to the bond); (iii) are registered with the SEC, exempt from registration at issuance, or offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), with or without registration rights; (iv) have at least $250 million of outstanding face value; (v) have an original maturity date of at least 18 months at the time of issuance; (vi) have at least one year to maturity as of the rebalancing date; and (vii) are issued by companies that each derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of telecom, media and technology assets. There is no upper limit on the maturity of bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index. For more information regarding the Underlying Index, see “More Information About the Funds—Underlying Index” below.
BIM uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “outperform” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing will eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable target index that BIM determines to collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and sector weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Index. There may be instances in which BIM may choose to underweight or overweight a security in the Index, purchase securities not in the Index that BIM believes are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Index in seeking to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or purchase securities not represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.
11
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in high-yield, below-investment grade bonds denominated in U.S. dollars of issuers in the telecom, media and technology sector, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through derivatives). Because the Index does not have a minimum percentage in the telecommunications sub-sector, technology & electronics sub-sector, or media sub-sector, the Fund also does not have a sub-sector investment minimum; however, the Fund intends to invest at least 15% of its net assets in each of the telecommunications, media and technology sub-sectors subject to the Fund’s investment objective to track the investment results of its index and the Fund’s fundamental investment policy. The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, U.S. Treasury obligations, U.S. Government obligations, U.S. agency securities, securities of other registered investment companies, cash and cash equivalents, as well as in securities not included in its Index, but which BIM believes will help the Fund track its Index.
An issuer is considered to be in the telecom, media and technology sector if it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of telecom, media and technology assets.
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BIM. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the bonds in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.
Industry
Concentration Policy.
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s), or similar securities that are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default. High-yield debt securities’ total return and yield may generally be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of investment-grade debt securities. A real or perceived economic downturn or an increase in market interest rates could cause a decline in the value of high-yield debt securities, result in increased redemptions and/or result in increased portfolio turnover, which could result in a decline in the NAV of the Fund, reduce liquidity for certain investments and/or increase costs. High-yield debt securities are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than investment-grade debt securities because there may be no established secondary market. Investments in high-yield debt securities could increase liquidity risk for the fund. In addition, the market for high-yield debt securities could experience sudden and sharp volatility, which is generally associated more with investments in stocks.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares or the Fund’s underlying portfolio securities, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Accordingly, if a shareholder purchases Fund 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.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. In addition, the Index Provider may be subject to business or regulatory changes that impair its ability to continue to operate the Index in its current form.
12
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV or differences between the securities prices used to value the Index and those used by the Fund), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, securities lending earnings, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain qualification for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Index does not. INDEX-BASED EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (“ETFs”) THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN HIGH YIELD SECURITIES MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Bond Risk. The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security typically issued by a corporate or government issuer that has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by corporations and governments to borrow money from investors. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, in which case the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, the Fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a “coupon” rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).
Corporate Bond Risk. The Fund will invest in corporate bonds, which are debt instruments issued by corporations to raise capital. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of an obligation. The Fund invests in fixed income securities of high yield issuers that may exhibit higher levels of credit risk than other types of fixed income instruments.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Limited History of Operations Risk. The Fund has a limited history of operations for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve sufficient scale, it may be liquidated.
Focused Investment Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, sub-sectors, industries, groups of industries, asset classes, markets, regions, countries, or groups of countries, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. In addition, the value of the Fund’s shares may change at different rates compared to the value of shares of a fund with investments in a more diversified mix of sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. An individual sector, sub-sector, industry, group of industries, asset-class, market, region, country, or group of countries may outperform the broader market during particular periods, but may do so with considerably greater volatility than the broader market. In addition, the several industries that constitute a sector or sub-sector or the several countries or markets that constitute a region or group of countries may all react similarly to economic, political, regulatory or other market events. The Fund’s performance could also be affected if the sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries do not perform as expected. Alternatively, a lack of exposure to one or more other sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries may adversely affect performance.
13
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BIM generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets or changing interest rate environments.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low, or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Risks associated with rising interest rates are heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from historically low levels and may continue to raise interest rates. In addition, changes in monetary policy may exacerbate the risks associated with changing interest rates. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Index are substituted, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may “call” or repay the security prior to its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates, which would result in a decline in the Fund’s income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Inflation Risk. Inflation is a sustained rise in overall price levels. Moderate inflation is associated with economic growth, while high inflation can signal an overheated economy. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money (i.e., as inflation increases, the values of the Fund’s assets can decline). Inflation poses a “stealth” threat to investors because it reduces savings and investment returns. Central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, generally attempt to control inflation by regulating the pace of economic activity. They typically attempt to affect economic activity by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. At times, governments may attempt to manage inflation through fiscal policy, such as by raising taxes or reducing spending, thereby reducing economic activity; conversely, governments can attempt to combat deflation with tax cuts and increased spending designed to stimulate economic activity. Inflation rates may change frequently and significantly as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy and changes in economic policies, and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund shareholders. This risk is greater for fixed-income instruments with longer maturities.
Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, the advent of significant inflation, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Telecom, Media and Technology Sector Risk. The telecom, media and technology sector consists of a number of sub-sectors, including the telecommunications, technology and electronics and media sub-sectors. These sectors are subject to the risks of rapid innovation and obsolescence cycles, intellectual property theft, government regulation, cybersecurity incidents and labor force challenges, among others. There is significant competition for technological advances, and issuers that fail to innovate will be adversely impacted. In addition, issuers in certain sub-sectors require substantial capital investments to develop products and services. While all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the telecom, media and technology sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses. The telecom, media and technology sector can also be significantly affected by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections.
14
Telecommunications Sub-Sector Risk. The telecommunications sub-sector is subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of telecommunications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. Companies in the telecommunications sub-sector may be affected by sub-sector competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Companies in the telecommunications sub-sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain telecommunications companies obsolete. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sub-sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry, and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sub-sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future.
Media Sub-Sector Risk. Companies in the media sub-sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in formulating new content, products and services using new technology. Media companies are subject to risks that include cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, competition in the sub-sector and among different media delivery mechanisms, and the potential for increased state and federal regulation. Advertising spending is an important source of revenue for media companies. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a media company’s profitability. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and as a result, media companies tend to generate less revenue.
Technology and Electronics Sub-Sector Risk. Technology and electronics companies, including information technology companies, face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on a company’s profit margins. Technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of technology and electronics companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments, frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the technology and electronics sub-sector are heavily dependent on patent and other intellectual property rights. A technology company’s loss or impairment of these rights, including through industrial espionage or state action, may adversely affect the company’s profitability. Companies in the technology and electronics sub-sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Risk of Investing in the United States. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
15
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund’s investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, sector, sub-sector, market segment, market, industry, group of industries, country, group of countries, region or asset class.
Non-Diversification
Risk.
Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may invest up to an aggregate amount of 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund’s shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund’s NAV. The high yield securities in which the Fund invests may experience greater liquidity challenges than other types of securities during periods of market stress.
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and Authorized Participants are not obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is willing or able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Exchange-Traded Fund and Other Investment Company Risk. The Fund may invest in shares of other investment companies and ETFs. Shareholders bear both their proportionate share of the Fund’s expenses and similar expenses of the underlying investment company or ETF when the Fund invests in shares of another investment company or ETF. The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETF or investment company’s investments. The price and movement of an ETF designed to track an index may not track the index and may result in a loss. In addition, ETFs may trade at a price above (premium) or below (discount) their net asset value, especially during periods of significant market volatility or stress, causing investors to pay significantly more or less than the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio. Certain ETFs traded on exchanges may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the “ask” price quoted by a seller and the “bid” price offered by a buyer.
Management Risk. Because BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund may not be able to fully replicate the Index and may hold securities not included in the Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BIM’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.
Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, Authorized Participants, market makers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and computer, technology or systems failures. The Fund and BIM seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
16
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by the Index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the Fund not fair-valued securities or used a different valuation methodology. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by a lack of current market prices, technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic or computer systems of the Fund, BIM, the Fund’s distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Years | Returns |
---|---|
2023 |
The
Fund’s best and worst calendar quarters
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS
(for the period ended December 31, 2023)
1 Year | Since Inception ( ) |
|||||||
% | % | |||||||
ICE
Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Telecom, Media & Technology
Index ( |
% | % |
17
Management
Investment Adviser. BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation.
Portfolio Managers. Elya Schwartzman and Daniel Goldman (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Schwartzman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since the Fund’s inception. Mr. Goldman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since February 2024.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at a market price. When you buy or sell shares of the Fund, you may be required to pay a brokerage commission, and you may experience tax consequences, including gains or losses, in connection with these transactions. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.bondbloxxetf.com. Further, the website will disclose the Fund’s median bid-ask spread over the most recent thirty calendar days.
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BIM or other related companies have in the past and could in the future pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
18
HEALTHCARE SECTOR ETF
The BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Healthcare Sector ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds in the healthcare sector.
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investments)
Management Fees1 | % | |||
Distribution and Service (12b-1) | ||||
Other Expenses | % | |||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | % |
1 |
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The
Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate 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
the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s
performance. For the period from November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023,
the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
19
The Fund is non-diversified and seeks to track the investment results of the ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Healthcare Index (the “Index”), which is a rules-based index consisting of U.S. dollar-denominated below investment grade bonds (as determined by ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates (collectively “Index Provider” or “IDI”)) that contains issuers from the healthcare sector, including the health facilities, health services, managed care, medical products, and pharmaceuticals sub-sectors. Below investment grade bonds are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” The Index is a modified market value-weighted index with a cap on each issuer of 25% of the market capitalization of the Index. This means that Index constituents are capitalization weighted, based on their current amount outstanding, and then adjusted in accordance with the index methodology detailed below. There is no limit to the number of issues in the Index, but as of December 31, 2023, the Index included approximately 118 constituents. The bonds included in the Index are publicly issued in the United States domestic market. Because the Index is reconstituted and rebalanced monthly, the components of the Index are likely to change over time.
The Index is composed of a subset of bonds in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Index components are classified into “large cap” and “small cap” categories. Their weightings are then adjusted based on a capitalization-weighting adjustment formula. See “More Information About the Funds—Index Construction” for more information about the adjustment formula.
As of December 31, 2023, the bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index include U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds, currently in a coupon paying period, that are publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market, and that: (i) are issued by companies having “risk exposure” to countries (i.e., issuers that are subject to the risks of one or more of these countries as a result of the principal country of domicile of the issuers (as determined by the Index Provider)) that are members of the FX-G10, which include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. and their respective territories; (ii) have an average rating of below investment grade (ratings from Fitch Ratings, Inc. (“Fitch”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or S&P Global Ratings are considered; if more than one agency provides a rating, the average rating is attached to the bond); (iii) are registered with the SEC, exempt from registration at issuance, or offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), with or without registration rights; (iv) have at least $250 million of outstanding face value; (v) have an original maturity date of at least 18 months at the time of issuance; (vi) have at least one year to maturity as of the rebalancing date; and (vii) are issued by companies that each derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of healthcare assets. There is no upper limit on the maturity of bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index. For more information regarding the Underlying Index, see “More Information About the Funds—Underlying Index” below.
BIM uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “outperform” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing will eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable target index that BIM determines to collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and sector weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Index. There may be instances in which BIM may choose to underweight or overweight a security in the Index, purchase securities not in the Index that BIM believes are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Index in seeking to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or purchase securities not represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.
20
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in high-yield, below-investment grade bonds denominated in U.S. dollars of issuers in the healthcare sector, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through derivatives).The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, U.S. Treasury obligations, U.S. Government obligations, U.S. agency securities, securities of other registered investment companies, cash and cash equivalents, as well as in securities not included in its Index, but which BIM believes will help the Fund track its Index.
An issuer is considered to be in the healthcare sector if it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of healthcare assets.
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BIM. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the bonds in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.
Industry
Concentration Policy.
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s), or similar securities that are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default. High-yield debt securities’ total return and yield may generally be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of investment-grade debt securities. A real or perceived economic downturn or an increase in market interest rates could cause a decline in the value of high-yield debt securities, result in increased redemptions and/or result in increased portfolio turnover, which could result in a decline in the NAV of the Fund, reduce liquidity for certain investments and/or increase costs. High-yield debt securities are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than investment-grade debt securities because there may be no established secondary market. Investments in high-yield debt securities could increase liquidity risk for the fund. In addition, the market for high-yield debt securities could experience sudden and sharp volatility, which is generally associated more with investments in stocks.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares or the Fund’s underlying portfolio securities, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Accordingly, if a shareholder purchases Fund 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.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. In addition, the Index Provider may be subject to business or regulatory changes that impair its ability to continue to operate the Index in its current form.
21
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV or differences between the securities prices used to value the Index and those used by the Fund), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, securities lending earnings, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain qualification for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) for U.S. federal income purposes, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Index does not. INDEX-BASED EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (“ETFs”) THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN HIGH YIELD SECURITIES MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Bond Risk. The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security typically issued by a corporate or government issuer that has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by corporations and governments to borrow money from investors. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, in which case the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, the Fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a “coupon” rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).
Corporate Bond Risk. The Fund will invest in corporate bonds, which are debt instruments issued by corporations to raise capital. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of an obligation. The Fund invests in fixed income securities of high yield issuers that may exhibit higher levels of credit risk than other types of fixed income instruments.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Limited History of Operations Risk. The Fund has a limited history of operations for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve sufficient scale, it may be liquidated.
Focused Investment Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, sub-sectors, industries, groups of industries, asset classes, markets, regions, countries, or groups of countries, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. In addition, the value of the Fund’s shares may change at different rates compared to the value of shares of a fund with investments in a more diversified mix of sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. An individual sector, sub-sector, industry, group of industries, asset-class, market, region, country, or group of countries may outperform the broader market during particular periods, but may do so with considerably greater volatility than the broader market. In addition, the several industries that constitute a sector or sub-sector or the several countries or markets that constitute a region or group of countries may all react similarly to economic, political, regulatory or other market events. The Fund’s performance could also be affected if the sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries do not perform as expected. Alternatively, a lack of exposure to one or more other sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries may adversely affect performance.
22
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BIM generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets or changing interest rate environments.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low, or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Risks associated with rising interest rates are heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from historically low levels and may continue to raise interest rates. In addition, changes in monetary policy may exacerbate the risks associated with changing interest rates. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Index are substituted, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may “call” or repay the security prior to its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates, which would result in a decline in the Fund’s income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Inflation Risk. Inflation is a sustained rise in overall price levels. Moderate inflation is associated with economic growth, while high inflation can signal an overheated economy. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money (i.e., as inflation increases, the values of the Fund’s assets can decline). Inflation poses a “stealth” threat to investors because it reduces savings and investment returns. Central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, generally attempt to control inflation by regulating the pace of economic activity. They typically attempt to affect economic activity by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. At times, governments may attempt to manage inflation through fiscal policy, such as by raising taxes or reducing spending, thereby reducing economic activity; conversely, governments can attempt to combat deflation with tax cuts and increased spending designed to stimulate economic activity. Inflation rates may change frequently and significantly as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy and changes in economic policies, and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund shareholders. This risk is greater for fixed-income instruments with longer maturities.
Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, the advent of significant inflation, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Healthcare Sector Risk. The healthcare sector consists of numerous sub-sectors, including the health facilities, health services, managed care, medical products, and pharmaceuticals sub-sectors. The profitability of companies in the healthcare sector may be adversely affected by the following factors, among others: extensive government regulations, restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure, an increased emphasis on outpatient and tele-health services, changes in the demand for medical products and services, a limited number of products, industry innovation, changes in technologies and other market developments. Many healthcare companies are heavily dependent on patent protection. The expiration of a company’s patents, or regulations restricting the ability of healthcare companies to enforce its patents, may adversely affect that company’s profitability. Many healthcare companies are subject to extensive litigation based on product liability and similar claims. Many new products in the healthcare sector may be subject to regulatory approvals. The process of obtaining such approvals may be long and costly, and such efforts ultimately may be unsuccessful. In addition, many healthcare products and services may be impacted by changes in healthcare insurance coverage practices and regulations.
23
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Risk of Investing in the United States. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund’s investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, sector, sub-sector, market segment, market, industry, group of industries, country, group of countries, region or asset class.
Non-Diversification
Risk.
Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may invest up to an aggregate amount of 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund’s shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund’s NAV. The high yield securities in which the Fund invests may experience greater liquidity challenges than other types of securities during periods of market stress.
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and Authorized Participants are not obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is willing or able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
24
Exchange-Traded Fund and Other Investment Company Risk. The Fund may invest in shares of other investment companies and ETFs. Shareholders bear both their proportionate share of the Fund’s expenses and similar expenses of the underlying investment company or ETF when the Fund invests in shares of another investment company or ETF. The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETF or investment company’s investments. The price and movement of an ETF designed to track an index may not track the index and may result in a loss. In addition, ETFs may trade at a price above (premium) or below (discount) their net asset value, especially during periods of significant market volatility or stress, causing investors to pay significantly more or less than the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio. Certain ETFs traded on exchanges may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the “ask” price quoted by a seller and the “bid” price offered by a buyer.
Management Risk. Because BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund may not be able to fully replicate the Index and may hold securities not included in the Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BIM’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.
Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, Authorized Participants, market makers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and computer, technology or systems failures. The Fund and BIM seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by the Index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the Fund not fair-valued securities or used a different valuation methodology. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by a lack of current market prices, technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic or computer systems of the Fund, BIM, the Fund’s distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
25
Years | Returns |
---|---|
2023 |
The
Fund’s best and worst calendar quarters
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS
(for the period ended December 31, 2023)
1 Year | Since Inception ( ) |
|||||||
% | ( |
)% | ||||||
ICE
Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Healthcare Index ( |
% | ( |
)% |
26
Management
Investment Adviser. BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation.
Portfolio Managers. Elya Schwartzman and Daniel Goldman (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Schwartzman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since the Fund’s inception. Mr. Goldman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since February 2024.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at a market price. When you buy or sell shares of the Fund, you may be required to pay a brokerage commission, and you may experience tax consequences, including gains or losses, in connection with these transactions. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.bondbloxxetf.com. Further, the website will disclose the Fund’s median bid-ask spread over the most recent thirty calendar days.
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BIM or other related companies have in the past and could in the future pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
27
REIT SECTOR ETF
The BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Financial & REIT Sector ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds in the financial and REIT sector.
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investments)
Management Fees1 | % | |||
Distribution and Service (12b-1) | ||||
Other Expenses | % | |||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | % |
1 |
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The
Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate 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
the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s
performance. For the period from November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023, the
Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
28
The Fund is non-diversified and seeks to track the investment results of the ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Financial & REIT Index (the “Index”), which is a rules-based index consisting of U.S. dollar-denominated below investment grade bonds (as determined by ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates (collectively “Index Provider” or “IDI”)) that contains issuers from the financial sector, including the banking, financial services, and insurance sub-sectors, and the REIT sector. The REIT sector is comprised solely of debt issued by real estate investment trusts. Below investment grade bonds are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” The Index is a modified market value-weighted index with a cap on each issuer of 25% of the market capitalization of the Index. This means that Index constituents are capitalization weighted, based on their current amount outstanding, and then adjusted in accordance with the index methodology detailed below. There is no limit to the number of issues in the Index, but as of December 31, 2023, the Index included approximately 232 constituents. The bonds included in the Index are publicly issued in the United States domestic market. Because the Index is reconstituted and rebalanced monthly, the components of the Index are likely to change over time.
The Index is composed of a subset of bonds in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Index components are classified into “large cap” and “small cap” categories. Their weightings are then adjusted based on a capitalization-weighting adjustment formula. See “More Information About the Funds—Index Construction” for more information about the adjustment formula.
As of December 31, 2023, the bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index include U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds, currently in a coupon paying period, that are publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market, and that: (i) are issued by companies having “risk exposure” to countries (i.e., issuers that are subject to the risks of one or more of these countries as a result of the principal country of domicile of the issuers (as determined by the Index Provider)) that are members of the FX-G10, which include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. and their respective territories; (ii) have an average rating of below investment grade (ratings from Fitch Ratings, Inc. (“Fitch”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or S&P Global Ratings are considered; if more than one agency provides a rating, the average rating is attached to the bond); (iii) are registered with the SEC, exempt from registration at issuance, or offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), with or without registration rights; (iv) have at least $250 million of outstanding face value; (v) have an original maturity date of at least 18 months at the time of issuance; (vi) have at least one year to maturity as of the rebalancing date; and (vii) are issued by companies that each derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of financial or REIT assets. There is no upper limit on the maturity of bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index. For more information regarding the Underlying Index, see “More Information About the Funds—Underlying Index” below.
BIM uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “outperform” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing will eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable target index that BIM determines to collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and sector weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Index. There may be instances in which BIM may choose to underweight or overweight a security in the Index, purchase securities not in the Index that BIM believes are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Index in seeking to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or purchase securities not represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.
29
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in high-yield, below-investment grade bonds denominated in U.S. dollars of issuers in the financial and REIT sector, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through derivatives). Because the Index does not have a minimum percentage in the financial sub-sector or the REIT sector, the Fund also does not have a sector or sub-sector investment minimum; however, the Fund intends to invest at least 15% of its net assets in each of the financial and REIT sectors subject to the Fund’s investment objective to track the investment results of its index and the Fund’s fundamental investment policy. The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, U.S. Treasury obligations, U.S. Government obligations, U.S. agency securities, securities of other registered investment companies, cash and cash equivalents, as well as in securities not included in its Index, but which BIM believes will help the Fund track its Index.
An issuer is considered to be in the financial sector or the REIT sector if it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of financial or REIT assets.
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BIM. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the bonds in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.
Industry
Concentration Policy.
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s), or similar securities that are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default. High-yield debt securities’ total return and yield may generally be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of investment-grade debt securities. A real or perceived economic downturn or an increase in market interest rates could cause a decline in the value of high-yield debt securities, result in increased redemptions and/or result in increased portfolio turnover, which could result in a decline in the NAV of the Fund, reduce liquidity for certain investments and/or increase costs. High-yield debt securities are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than investment-grade debt securities because there may be no established secondary market. Investments in high-yield debt securities could increase liquidity risk for the fund. In addition, the market for high-yield debt securities could experience sudden and sharp volatility, which is generally associated more with investments in stocks.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares or the Fund’s underlying portfolio securities, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Accordingly, if a shareholder purchases Fund 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.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. In addition, the Index Provider may be subject to business or regulatory changes that impair its ability to continue to operate the Index in its current form.
30
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV or differences between the securities prices used to value the Index and those used by the Fund), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, securities lending earnings, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain qualification for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Index does not. INDEX-BASED EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (“ETFs”) THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN HIGH YIELD SECURITIES MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Bond Risk. The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security typically issued by a corporate or government issuer that has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by corporations and governments to borrow money from investors. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, in which case the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, the Fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a “coupon” rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).
Corporate Bond Risk. The Fund will invest in corporate bonds, which are debt instruments issued by corporations to raise capital. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of an obligation. The Fund invests in fixed income securities of high yield issuers that may exhibit higher levels of credit risk than other types of fixed income instruments.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Limited History of Operations Risk. The Fund has a limited history of operations for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve sufficient scale, it may be liquidated.
Focused Investment Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, sub-sectors, industries, groups of industries, asset classes, markets, regions, countries, or groups of countries, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. In addition, the value of the Fund’s shares may change at different rates compared to the value of shares of a fund with investments in a more diversified mix of sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. An individual sector, sub-sector, industry, group of industries, asset-class, market, region, country, or group of countries may outperform the broader market during particular periods, but may do so with considerably greater volatility than the broader market. In addition, the several industries that constitute a sector or sub-sector or the several countries or markets that constitute a region or group of countries may all react similarly to economic, political, regulatory or other market events. The Fund’s performance could also be affected if the sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries do not perform as expected. Alternatively, a lack of exposure to one or more other sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries may adversely affect performance.
31
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BIM generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets or changing interest rate environments.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low, or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Risks associated with rising interest rates are heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from historically low levels and may continue to raise interest rates. In addition, changes in monetary policy may exacerbate the risks associated with changing interest rates. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Index are substituted, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may “call” or repay the security prior to its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates, which would result in a decline in the Fund’s income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Inflation Risk. Inflation is a sustained rise in overall price levels. Moderate inflation is associated with economic growth, while high inflation can signal an overheated economy. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money (i.e., as inflation increases, the values of the Fund’s assets can decline). Inflation poses a “stealth” threat to investors because it reduces savings and investment returns. Central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, generally attempt to control inflation by regulating the pace of economic activity. They typically attempt to affect economic activity by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. At times, governments may attempt to manage inflation through fiscal policy, such as by raising taxes or reducing spending, thereby reducing economic activity; conversely, governments can attempt to combat deflation with tax cuts and increased spending designed to stimulate economic activity. Inflation rates may change frequently and significantly as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy and changes in economic policies, and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund shareholders. This risk is greater for fixed-income instruments with longer maturities.
Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, the advent of significant inflation, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Financial Sector Risk. The financial sector consists of numerous sub-sectors, including the banking, financial services, insurance and REIT sub-sectors. Companies in the financial sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financial sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Companies in the financial sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financial sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financial sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. In recent years, cyberattacks and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.
32
Banking Sub-Sector Risk. Banking and financial services companies are subject to extensive regulation. Recently enacted legislation in the U.S. has relaxed capital requirements and other regulatory burdens on certain U.S. banks. While the effect of the legislation may benefit certain companies in the banking sub-sector, increased risk taking by affected banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financial sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the banking sub-sector as a whole cannot be predicted. Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the banking sub-sector more severely than those of investments outside this sub-sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage.
Insurance Sub-Sector Risk. The insurance sub-sector is subject to extensive government regulation in some countries and can be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, general economic conditions, price and marketing competition, the imposition of premium rate caps or other changes in government regulation or tax law. Different segments of the insurance sub-sector can be significantly affected by changes in mortality and morbidity rates, environmental clean-up costs and catastrophic events such as earthquakes, hurricanes and terrorist acts.
Real Estate and REIT Sub-Sector Risk. Investments in real estate related securities are subject to the risk that the value of the real estate underlying the securities will go down. Investments in REITs involve unique risks. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in limited volume, and may be more volatile than other securities. REITs may fail to qualify for the favorable tax treatment available to REITs or may fail to maintain their exemptions from investment company registration. Securities of such issuers may lack sufficient market liquidity to enable the Fund to effect sales at an advantageous time or without a substantial drop in price. Additionally, rising interest rates may cause REIT investors to demand a higher annual yield, which may, in turn, cause a decline in the market price of the equity securities issued by a REIT. Some REITs may utilize leverage, which increases investment risk and may potentially increase the Fund’s losses.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Risk of Investing in the United States. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund’s investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, sector, sub-sector, market segment, market, industry, group of industries, country, group of countries, region or asset class.
33
Non-Diversification
Risk.
Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may invest up to an aggregate amount of 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund’s shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund’s NAV. The high yield securities in which the Fund invests may experience greater liquidity challenges than other types of securities during periods of market stress.
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and Authorized Participants are not obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is willing or able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Exchange-Traded Fund and Other Investment Company Risk. The Fund may invest in shares of other investment companies and ETFs. Shareholders bear both their proportionate share of the Fund’s expenses and similar expenses of the underlying investment company or ETF when the Fund invests in shares of another investment company or ETF. The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETF or investment company’s investments. The price and movement of an ETF designed to track an index may not track the index and may result in a loss. In addition, ETFs may trade at a price above (premium) or below (discount) their net asset value, especially during periods of significant market volatility or stress, causing investors to pay significantly more or less than the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio. Certain ETFs traded on exchanges may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the “ask” price quoted by a seller and the “bid” price offered by a buyer.
Management Risk. Because BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund may not be able to fully replicate the Index and may hold securities not included in the Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BIM’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.
Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, Authorized Participants, market makers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and computer, technology or systems failures. The Fund and BIM seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
34
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by the Index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the Fund not fair-valued securities or used a different valuation methodology. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by a lack of current market prices, technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic or computer systems of the Fund, BIM, the Fund’s distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Years | Returns |
---|---|
2023 |
The
Fund’s best and worst calendar quarters
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS
(for the period ended December 31, 2023)
1 Year | Since Inception ( ) |
|||||||
% | % | |||||||
ICE
Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Financial & REIT Index ( |
% | % |
35
Management
Investment Adviser. BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation.
Portfolio Managers. Elya Schwartzman and Daniel Goldman (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Schwartzman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since the Fund’s inception. Mr. Goldman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since February 2024.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at a market price. When you buy or sell shares of the Fund, you may be required to pay a brokerage commission, and you may experience tax consequences, including gains or losses, in connection with these transactions. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.bondbloxxetf.com. Further, the website will disclose the Fund’s median bid-ask spread over the most recent thirty calendar days.
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BIM or other related companies have in the past and could in the future pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
36
ENERGY SECTOR ETF
The BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Energy Sector ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds in the energy sector.
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investments)
Management Fees1 | % | |||
Distribution and Service (12b-1) | ||||
Other Expenses | % | |||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | % |
1 |
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as
commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio).
A higher portfolio turnover rate 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 the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the
Example, affect the Fund’s performance. For the period from November 1, 2022 to
October 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
37
The Fund is non-diversified and seeks to track the investment results of the ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Energy Index (the “Index”), which is a rules-based index consisting of U.S. dollar-denominated below investment grade bonds (as determined by ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates (collectively “Index Provider” or “IDI”)) that contains issuers from the energy sector, including the exploration & production, gas distribution, oil field equipment & services, and oil refining & marketing sub-sectors. Below investment grade bonds are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” The Index is a modified market value-weighted index with a cap on each issuer of 25% of the market capitalization of the Index. This means that Index constituents are capitalization weighted, based on their current amount outstanding, and then adjusted in accordance with the index methodology detailed below. There is no limit to the number of issues in the Index, but as of December 31, 2023, the Index included approximately 237 constituents. The bonds included in the Index are publicly issued in the United States domestic market. Because the Index is reconstituted and rebalanced monthly, the components of the Index are likely to change over time.
The Index is composed of a subset of bonds in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Index components are classified into “large cap” and “small cap” categories. Their weightings are then adjusted based on a capitalization-weighting adjustment formula. See “More Information About the Funds—Index Construction” for more information about the adjustment formula.
As of December 31, 2023, the bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index include U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds, currently in a coupon paying period, that are publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market, and that: (i) are issued by companies having “risk exposure” to countries (i.e., issuers that are subject to the risks of one or more of these countries as a result of the principal country of domicile of the issuers (as determined by the Index Provider)) that are members of the FX-G10, which include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. and their respective territories; (ii) have an average rating of below investment grade (ratings from Fitch Ratings, Inc. (“Fitch”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or S&P Global Ratings are considered; if more than one agency provides a rating, the average rating is attached to the bond); (iii) are registered with the SEC, exempt from registration at issuance, or offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), with or without registration rights; (iv) have at least $250 million of outstanding face value; (v) have an original maturity date of at least 18 months at the time of issuance; (vi) have at least one year to maturity as of the rebalancing date; and (vii) are issued by companies that each derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of energy assets. There is no upper limit on the maturity of bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index. For more information regarding the Underlying Index, see “More Information About the Funds—Underlying Index” below.
BIM uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “outperform” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing will eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable target index that BIM determines to collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and sector weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Index. There may be instances in which BIM may choose to underweight or overweight a security in the Index, purchase securities not in the Index that BIM believes are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Index in seeking to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or purchase securities not represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.
38
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in high-yield, below-investment grade bonds denominated in U.S. dollars of issuers in the energy sector, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through derivatives).The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, U.S. Treasury obligations, U.S. Government obligations, U.S. agency securities, securities of other registered investment companies, cash and cash equivalents, as well as in securities not included in its Index, but which BIM believes will help the Fund track its Index.
An issuer is considered to be in the energy sector if it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of energy assets.
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BIM. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the bonds in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.
Industry
Concentration Policy.
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s), or similar securities that are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default. High-yield debt securities’ total return and yield may generally be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of investment-grade debt securities. A real or perceived economic downturn or an increase in market interest rates could cause a decline in the value of high-yield debt securities, result in increased redemptions and/or result in increased portfolio turnover, which could result in a decline in the NAV of the Fund, reduce liquidity for certain investments and/or increase costs. High-yield debt securities are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than investment-grade debt securities because there may be no established secondary market. Investments in high-yield debt securities could increase liquidity risk for the fund. In addition, the market for high-yield debt securities could experience sudden and sharp volatility, which is generally associated more with investments in stocks.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares or the Fund’s underlying portfolio securities, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Accordingly, if a shareholder purchases Fund 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.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. In addition, the Index Provider may be subject to business or regulatory changes that impair its ability to continue to operate the Index in its current form.
39
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV or differences between the securities prices used to value the Index and those used by the Fund), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, securities lending earnings, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain qualification for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC’’) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Index does not. INDEX-BASED EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (“ETFs”) THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN HIGH YIELD SECURITIES MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Bond Risk. The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security typically issued by a corporate or government issuer that has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by corporations and governments to borrow money from investors. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, in which case the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, the Fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a “coupon” rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).
Corporate Bond Risk. The Fund will invest in corporate bonds, which are debt instruments issued by corporations to raise capital. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of an obligation. The Fund invests in fixed income securities of high yield issuers that may exhibit higher levels of credit risk than other types of fixed income instruments.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Limited History of Operations Risk. The Fund has a limited history of operations for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve sufficient scale, it may be liquidated.
Focused Investment Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, sub-sectors, industries, groups of industries, asset classes, markets, regions, countries, or groups of countries, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. In addition, the value of the Fund’s shares may change at different rates compared to the value of shares of a fund with investments in a more diversified mix of sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. An individual sector, sub-sector, industry, group of industries, asset-class, market, region, country, or group of countries may outperform the broader market during particular periods, but may do so with considerably greater volatility than the broader market. In addition, the several industries that constitute a sector or sub-sector or the several countries or markets that constitute a region or group of countries may all react similarly to economic, political, regulatory or other market events. The Fund’s performance could also be affected if the sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries do not perform as expected. Alternatively, a lack of exposure to one or more other sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries may adversely affect performance.
40
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BIM generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets or changing interest rate environments.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low, or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Risks associated with rising interest rates are heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from historically low levels and may continue to raise interest rates. In addition, changes in monetary policy may exacerbate the risks associated with changing interest rates. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Index are substituted, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may “call” or repay the security prior to its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates, which would result in a decline in the Fund’s income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Inflation Risk. Inflation is a sustained rise in overall price levels. Moderate inflation is associated with economic growth, while high inflation can signal an overheated economy. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money (i.e., as inflation increases, the values of the Fund’s assets can decline). Inflation poses a “stealth” threat to investors because it reduces savings and investment returns. Central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, generally attempt to control inflation by regulating the pace of economic activity. They typically attempt to affect economic activity by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. At times, governments may attempt to manage inflation through fiscal policy, such as by raising taxes or reducing spending, thereby reducing economic activity; conversely, governments can attempt to combat deflation with tax cuts and increased spending designed to stimulate economic activity. Inflation rates may change frequently and significantly as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy and changes in economic policies, and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund shareholders. This risk is greater for fixed-income instruments with longer maturities.
Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, the advent of significant inflation, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Energy Sector Risk. The energy sector consists of a number of sub-sectors, including the exploration & production, gas distribution, oil field equipment & services, and oil refining & marketing sub-sectors. The market value of securities in the energy sector may decline for many reasons, including, among others, changes in energy prices, energy supply and demand, geopolitical instability, government regulations and energy conservation efforts. The energy sector has recently experienced increased volatility. In particular, there has been significant market volatility in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of certain crude oil futures contract falling below zero for a period of time.
Oil and Gas Sub-Sector Risk. Companies in the oil and gas sub-sector are strongly affected by the levels and volatility of global energy prices, oil and gas supply and demand, government regulations and policies, oil and gas production and conservation efforts and technological change. The oil and gas sub-sector is cyclical and from time to time may experience a shortage of drilling rigs, equipment, supplies or qualified personnel, or due to significant demand, such services may not be available on commercially reasonable terms. Prices and supplies of oil and gas may fluctuate significantly over short and long periods of time due to national and international political changes, OPEC policies, changes in relationships among OPEC members and between OPEC and oil-importing nations, the regulatory environment, taxation policies, and the economies of key energy-consuming countries. Disruptions in the oil and gas sub-sector or shifts in energy consumption may significantly impact companies in this sub-sector.
41
Exploration & Production Sub-Sector Risk. Financial results of companies in the exploration and production sub-sector correlate closely to the prices they obtain for their products, such as oil, natural gas, and their chemical products. These prices have historically fluctuated wildly, and if prices decline, these companies’ operations, financial condition, cash slows, expenditure levels and quantity of estimated proved reserved attributable to their properties may be materially and adversely affected. Prices are set by global and local market forces not in these companies’ control. In addition, activities in this sub-sector are subject to risks outside the companies’ control, including the risk that drilling will not result in commercially viable oil or natural gas production. Exploration is inherently risky and subject to delays, misinterpretation of geologic or engineering data, unexpected geologic conditions or finding reserves of disappointing quality or quantity, which may result in significant losses.
Gas Distribution Sub-Sector Risk. Companies in the gas distribution sub-sector are generally highly dependent on companies in the exploration and production sub-sector, which means that material adverse impacts on the exploration and production sub-sector may have material adverse effects on companies in the gas distribution sub-sector. Lower prices of oil or natural gas could have a material adverse effect on these companies’ business, operating results, financial condition or ability to make distributions to investors, such as the Fund. The gas distribution sub-sector is highly competitive, with a large number of competitors, and companies’ customers may seek to compete with companies in this sub-sector.
Oil Field Equipment & Services Sub-Sector Risk. Companies in the oil field equipment and services sub-sector are highly dependent on activity levels on the oil and gas industry, which is significantly affected by volatile oil and gas prices, and other factors. This includes activity levels in offshore areas worldwide. Prolonged reductions in oil and natural gas prices could depress the immediate levels of exploration, development and production activity. Perceptions of longer-term lower oil and natural gas prices by oil and gas companies could similarly reduce or defer major expenditures given the long-term nature of many large-scale development projects. Lower levels of activity result in a corresponding decline in the demand for these companies’ services, which could have a material adverse effect on revenue and profitability. Oil and gas prices and market expectations of potential changes in these prices significantly affect this level of activity. However, increases in near-term commodity prices do not necessarily translate into increased offshore drilling activity since customers’ expectations of longer-term future commodity prices typically have a greater impact on demand for rigs. Consistent with this dynamic, customers may delay or cancel many exploration and development programs, resulting in reduced demand for services. Also, increased competition for customers’ drilling budgets could come from, among other areas, land-based energy markets worldwide. The availability of quality drilling prospects, exploration success, relative production costs, the stage of reservoir development and political and regulatory environments also affect customers’ drilling campaigns. Worldwide military, political and economic events have often contributed to oil and gas price volatility and are likely to do so in the future.
Oil Refining & Marketing Sub-Sector Risk. Business closings and layoffs in the markets in which a company in the oil refining and marketing sub-sector operates may adversely affect demand for refined products. Sustained deterioration of general economic conditions or persistent weak demand levels could require additional actions on a company’s part to lower its operating costs, including temporarily or permanently ceasing to operate units at its facilities.
These companies’ revenues, profitability, cash flows and liquidity from operations depend primarily on the margin above operating expenses (including the cost of refinery feedstocks, such as crude oil, intermediate partially refined petroleum products, and natural gas liquids that are processed and blended into refined products) at which a company is able to sell refined products. Refining is primarily a margin-based business and, to increase profitability, it is important to maximize the yields of high value finished products while minimizing the costs of feedstock and operating expenses. An increase or decrease in the price of crude oil will likely result in a similar increase or decrease in prices for refined products; however, there may be a time lag in the realization, or no such realization, of the similar increase or decrease in prices for refined products. The effect of changes in crude oil prices on a company’s refining margins therefore depends in part on how quickly and how fully refined product prices adjust to reflect these changes.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
42
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Risk of Investing in the United States. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.’.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund’s investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, sector, sub-sector, market segment, market, industry, group of industries, country, group of countries, region or asset class.
Non-Diversification
Risk.
Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may invest up to an aggregate amount of 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund’s shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund’s NAV. The high yield securities in which the Fund invests may experience greater liquidity challenges than other types of securities during periods of market stress.
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and Authorized Participants are not obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is willing or able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
43
Exchange-Traded Fund and Other Investment Company Risk. The Fund may invest in shares of other investment companies and ETFs. Shareholders bear both their proportionate share of the Fund’s expenses and similar expenses of the underlying investment company or ETF when the Fund invests in shares of another investment company or ETF. The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETF or investment company’s investments. The price and movement of an ETF designed to track an index may not track the index and may result in a loss. In addition, ETFs may trade at a price above (premium) or below (discount) their net asset value, especially during periods of significant market volatility or stress, causing investors to pay significantly more or less than the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio. Certain ETFs traded on exchanges may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the “ask” price quoted by a seller and the “bid” price offered by a buyer.
Management Risk. Because BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund may not be able to fully replicate the Index and may hold securities not included in the Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BIM’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.
Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, Authorized Participants, market makers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and computer, technology or systems failures. The Fund and BIM seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by the Index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the Fund not fair-valued securities or used a different valuation methodology. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by a lack of current market prices, technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic or computer systems of the Fund, BIM, the Fund’s distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
44
Years | Returns |
---|---|
2023 |
The
Fund’s best and worst calendar quarters
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS
(for the period ended December 31, 2023)
1 Year | Since Inception ( ) |
|||||||
% | % | |||||||
ICE
Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Energy Index ( |
% | % |
45
Management
Investment Adviser. BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation.
Portfolio Managers. Elya Schwartzman and Daniel Goldman (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Schwartzman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since the Fund’s inception. Mr. Goldman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since February 2024.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at a market price. When you buy or sell shares of the Fund, you may be required to pay a brokerage commission, and you may experience tax consequences, including gains or losses, in connection with these transactions. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.bondbloxxetf.com. Further, the website will disclose the Fund’s median bid-ask spread over the most recent thirty calendar days.
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BIM or other related companies have in the past and could in the future pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
46
CYCLICALS SECTOR ETF
The BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Consumer Cyclicals Sector ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds in the consumer cyclicals sector.
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investments)
Management Fees1 | % | |||
Distribution and Service (12b-1) | ||||
Other Expenses | % | |||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | % |
1 |
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The
Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate 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
the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s
performance. For the period from November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023, the
Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
47
The Fund is non-diversified and seeks to track the investment results of the ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Consumer Cyclical Index (the “Index”), which is a rules-based index consisting of U.S. dollar-denominated below investment grade bonds (as determined by ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates (collectively “Index Provider” or “IDI”)) that contains issuers from the consumer cyclicals sector (companies whose performance is generally more closely connected to the business cycle and current economic conditions), including the leisure, real estate development & management, department stores, and specialty retail sub-sectors. The performance of securities in this sector, in the aggregate, may exhibit greater volatility in response to macroeconomic or systematic changes in the overall economy. Below investment grade bonds are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” The Index is a modified market value-weighted index with a cap on each issuer of 25% of the market capitalization of the Index. This means that Index constituents are capitalization weighted, based on their current amount outstanding, and then adjusted in accordance with the index methodology detailed below. There is no limit to the number of issues in the Index, but as of December 31, 2023, the Index included approximately 258 constituents. The bonds included in the Index are publicly issued in the United States domestic market. Because the Index is reconstituted and rebalanced monthly, the components of the Index are likely to change over time.
The Index is composed of a subset of bonds in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Index components are classified into “large cap” and “small cap” categories. Their weightings are then adjusted based on a capitalization-weighting adjustment formula. See “More Information About the Funds—Index Construction” for more information about the adjustment formula.
As of December 31, 2023, the bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index include U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds, currently in a coupon paying period, that are publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market, and that: (i) are issued by companies having “risk exposure” to countries (i.e., issuers that are subject to the risks of one or more of these countries as a result of the principal country of domicile of the issuers (as determined by the Index Provider)) that are members of the FX-G10, which include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. and their respective territories; (ii) have an average rating of below investment grade (ratings from Fitch Ratings, Inc. (“Fitch”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or S&P Global Ratings are considered; if more than one agency provides a rating, the average rating is attached to the bond); (iii) are registered with the SEC, exempt from registration at issuance, or offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), with or without registration rights; (iv) have at least $250 million of outstanding face value; (v) have an original maturity date of at least 18 months at the time of issuance; (vi) have at least one year to maturity as of the rebalancing date; and (vii) are issued by companies that each derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of consumer cyclical assets. There is no upper limit on the maturity of bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index. For more information regarding the Underlying Index, see “More Information About the Funds—Underlying Index” below.
BIM uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “outperform” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing will eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable target index that BIM determines to collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and sector weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Index. There may be instances in which BIM may choose to underweight or overweight a security in the Index, purchase securities not in the Index that BIM believes are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Index in seeking to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or purchase securities not represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.
48
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in high-yield, below-investment grade bonds denominated in U.S. dollars of issuers in the consumer cyclicals sector, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through derivatives).The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, U.S. Treasury obligations, U.S. Government obligations, U.S. agency securities, securities of other registered investment companies, cash and cash equivalents, as well as in securities not included in its Index, but which BIM believes will help the Fund track its Index.
An issuer is considered to be in the consumer cyclicals sector if it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of consumer cyclicals assets.
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BIM. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the bonds in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.
Industry
Concentration Policy.
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s), or similar securities that are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default. High-yield debt securities’ total return and yield may generally be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of investment-grade debt securities. A real or perceived economic downturn or an increase in market interest rates could cause a decline in the value of high-yield debt securities, result in increased redemptions and/or result in increased portfolio turnover, which could result in a decline in the NAV of the Fund, reduce liquidity for certain investments and/or increase costs. High-yield debt securities are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than investment-grade debt securities because there may be no established secondary market. Investments in high-yield debt securities could increase liquidity risk for the fund. In addition, the market for high-yield debt securities could experience sudden and sharp volatility, which is generally associated more with investments in stocks.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares or the Fund’s underlying portfolio securities, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Accordingly, if a shareholder purchases Fund 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.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. In addition, the Index Provider may be subject to business or regulatory changes that impair its ability to continue to operate the Index in its current form.
49
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV or differences between the securities prices used to value the Index and those used by the Fund), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, securities lending earnings, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain qualification for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Index does not. INDEX-BASED EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (“ETFs”) THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN HIGH YIELD SECURITIES MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Bond Risk. The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security typically issued by a corporate or government issuer that has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by corporations and governments to borrow money from investors. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, in which case the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, the Fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a “coupon” rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).
Corporate Bond Risk. The Fund will invest in corporate bonds, which are debt instruments issued by corporations to raise capital. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of an obligation. The Fund invests in fixed income securities of high yield issuers that may exhibit higher levels of credit risk than other types of fixed income instruments.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Limited History of Operations Risk. The Fund has a limited history of operations for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve sufficient scale, it may be liquidated.
Focused Investment Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, sub-sectors, industries, groups of industries, asset classes, markets, regions, countries, or groups of countries, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. In addition, the value of the Fund’s shares may change at different rates compared to the value of shares of a fund with investments in a more diversified mix of sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. An individual sector, sub-sector, industry, group of industries, asset-class, market, region, country, or group of countries may outperform the broader market during particular periods, but may do so with considerably greater volatility than the broader market. In addition, the several industries that constitute a sector or sub-sector or the several countries or markets that constitute a region or group of countries may all react similarly to economic, political, regulatory or other market events. The Fund’s performance could also be affected if the sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries do not perform as expected. Alternatively, a lack of exposure to one or more other sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries may adversely affect performance.
50
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BIM generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets or changing interest rate environments.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low, or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Risks associated with rising interest rates are heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from historically low levels and may continue to raise interest rates. In addition, changes in monetary policy may exacerbate the risks associated with changing interest rates. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Index are substituted, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may “call” or repay the security prior to its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates, which would result in a decline in the Fund’s income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Inflation Risk. Inflation is a sustained rise in overall price levels. Moderate inflation is associated with economic growth, while high inflation can signal an overheated economy. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money (i.e., as inflation increases, the values of the Fund’s assets can decline). Inflation poses a “stealth” threat to investors because it reduces savings and investment returns. Central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, generally attempt to control inflation by regulating the pace of economic activity. They typically attempt to affect economic activity by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. At times, governments may attempt to manage inflation through fiscal policy, such as by raising taxes or reducing spending, thereby reducing economic activity; conversely, governments can attempt to combat deflation with tax cuts and increased spending designed to stimulate economic activity. Inflation rates may change frequently and significantly as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy and changes in economic policies, and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund shareholders. This risk is greater for fixed-income instruments with longer maturities.
Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, the advent of significant inflation, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Consumer Cyclicals Sector Risk. The consumer cyclicals sector consists of a number of sub-sectors, including the consumer discretionary, leisure, real estate development and management, department store and specialty retail sub-sectors. The success of consumer cyclical companies is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and preferences. Companies in the consumer cyclicals sector depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.
51
Consumer Discretionary Sub-Sector Risk. Companies engaged in the design, production or distribution of products or services for the consumer discretionary sub-sector (including, for example, leisure, gaming, hotels, recreation, theaters, entertainment, etc.) are subject to the risk that their products or services may become obsolete quickly. The success of these companies can depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. During periods of an expanding economy, the consumer discretionary sub-sector may outperform other sub-sectors, but may underperform when economic conditions worsen. Moreover, the consumer discretionary sub-sector can be significantly affected by several factors, including, without limitation, the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, changing consumer preferences, demographics, marketing campaigns, cyclical revenue generation, consumer confidence, commodity price volatility, labor relations, interest rates, import and export controls, intense competition, technological developments and government regulation.
Retail Sub-Sector Risk. The retail sub-sector may be affected by changes in domestic and international economies, consumer confidence, disposable household income and spending, and consumer tastes and preferences. Companies in the retail sub-sector face intense competition, which may have an adverse effect on their profitability. The success of companies in the retail sub-sector may be strongly affected by social trends, marketing campaigns and public perceptions. Companies in the retail sub-sector may be dependent on outside financing, which may be difficult to obtain. Many of these companies are dependent on third party suppliers and distribution systems. Retail companies may be unable to protect their intellectual property rights or may be liable for infringing the intellectual property rights of others.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Risk of Investing in the United States. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund’s investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, sector, sub-sector, market segment, market, industry, group of industries, country, group of countries, region or asset class.
52
Non-Diversification
Risk.
Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may invest up to an aggregate amount of 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund’s shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund’s NAV. The high yield securities in which the Fund invests may experience greater liquidity challenges than other types of securities during periods of market stress.
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and Authorized Participants are not obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is willing or able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Exchange-Traded Fund and Other Investment Company Risk. The Fund may invest in shares of other investment companies and ETFs. Shareholders bear both their proportionate share of the Fund’s expenses and similar expenses of the underlying investment company or ETF when the Fund invests in shares of another investment company or ETF. The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETF or investment company’s investments. The price and movement of an ETF designed to track an index may not track the index and may result in a loss. In addition, ETFs may trade at a price above (premium) or below (discount) their net asset value, especially during periods of significant market volatility or stress, causing investors to pay significantly more or less than the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio. Certain ETFs traded on exchanges may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the “ask” price quoted by a seller and the “bid” price offered by a buyer.
Management Risk. Because BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund may not be able to fully replicate the Index and may hold securities not included in the Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BIM’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.
Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, Authorized Participants, market makers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and computer, technology or systems failures. The Fund and BIM seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
53
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by the Index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the Fund not fair-valued securities or used a different valuation methodology. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by a lack of current market prices, technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic or computer systems of the Fund, BIM, the Fund’s distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Years | Returns |
---|---|
2023 |
The
Fund’s best and worst calendar quarters
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS
(for the period ended December 31, 2023)
1 Year | Since Inception ( ) |
|||||||
% | % | |||||||
ICE
Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Consumer Cyclical Index ( |
% | % |
54
Management
Investment Adviser. BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation.
Portfolio Managers. Elya Schwartzman and Daniel Goldman (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Schwartzman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since the Fund’s inception. Mr. Goldman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since February 2024.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at a market price. When you buy or sell shares of the Fund, you may be required to pay a brokerage commission, and you may experience tax consequences, including gains or losses, in connection with these transactions. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.bondbloxxetf.com. Further, the website will disclose the Fund’s median bid-ask spread over the most recent thirty calendar days.
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BIM or other related companies have in the past and could in the future pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
55
NON-CYCLICALS SECTOR ETF
The BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Consumer Non-Cyclicals Sector ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds in the consumer non-cyclicals sector.
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investments)
Management Fees1 | % | |||
Distribution and Service (12b-1) | ||||
Other Expenses | % | |||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | % |
1 |
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The
Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate 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
the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s
performance. For the period from November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023, the
Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
56
The Fund is non-diversified and seeks to track the investment results of the ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Consumer Non-Cyclical Index (the “Index”), which is a rules-based index consisting of U.S. dollar-denominated below investment grade bonds (as determined by ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates (collectively “Index Provider” or “IDI”)) that contains issuers from the consumer non-cyclicals sector (companies whose performance is generally less closely connected to the business cycle and current economic conditions), including the consumer goods, discount stores, food & drug retail, restaurants, and utilities sub-sectors. The performance of securities in this sector, in the aggregate, may exhibit lower sensitivity in response to macroeconomic or systematic changes in the overall economy. Below investment grade bonds are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” The Index is a modified market value-weighted index with a cap on each issuer of 25% of the market capitalization of the Index. This means that Index constituents are capitalization weighted, based on their current amount outstanding, and then adjusted in accordance with the index methodology detailed below. There is no limit to the number of issues in the Index, but as of December 31, 2023, the Index included approximately 178 constituents. The bonds included in the Index are publicly issued in the United States domestic market. Because the Index is reconstituted and rebalanced monthly, the components of the Index are likely to change over time.
The Index is composed of a subset of bonds in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (the “Underlying Index”). The Index components are classified into “large cap” and “small cap” categories. Their weightings are then adjusted based on a capitalization-weighting adjustment formula. See “More Information About the Funds—Index Construction” for more information about the adjustment formula.
As of December 31, 2023, the bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index include U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds, currently in a coupon paying period, that are publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market, and that: (i) are issued by companies having “risk exposure” to countries (i.e., issuers that are subject to the risks of one or more of these countries as a result of the principal country of domicile of the issuers (as determined by the Index Provider)) that are members of the FX-G10, which include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. and their respective territories; (ii) have an average rating of below investment grade (ratings from Fitch Ratings, Inc. (“Fitch”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or S&P Global Ratings are considered; if more than one agency provides a rating, the average rating is attached to the bond); (iii) are registered with the SEC, exempt from registration at issuance, or offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), with or without registration rights; (iv) have at least $250 million of outstanding face value; (v) have an original maturity date of at least 18 months at the time of issuance; (vi) have at least one year to maturity as of the rebalancing date; and (vii) are issued by companies that each derive at least 50% of their revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of consumer non-cyclical assets. There is no upper limit on the maturity of bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index. For more information regarding the Underlying Index, see “More Information About the Funds—Underlying Index” below.
BIM uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “outperform” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing will eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable target index that BIM determines to collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and sector weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Index. There may be instances in which BIM may choose to underweight or overweight a security in the Index, purchase securities not in the Index that BIM believes are appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Index in seeking to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or purchase securities not represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.
57
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in high-yield, below-investment grade bonds denominated in U.S. dollars of issuers in the consumer non-cyclicals sector, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through derivatives).The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, U.S. Treasury obligations, U.S. Government obligations, U.S. agency securities, securities of other registered investment companies, cash and cash equivalents, as well as in securities not included in its Index, but which BIM believes will help the Fund track its Index.
An issuer is considered to be in the consumer non-cyclicals sector if it derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from the ownership, operation, development, construction, management, financing, leasing or sale of consumer non-cyclicals assets.
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.
The Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BIM. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the bonds in the Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Index.
Industry
Concentration Policy.
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s), or similar securities that are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default. High-yield debt securities’ total return and yield may generally be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of investment-grade debt securities. A real or perceived economic downturn or an increase in market interest rates could cause a decline in the value of high-yield debt securities, result in increased redemptions and/or result in increased portfolio turnover, which could result in a decline in the NAV of the Fund, reduce liquidity for certain investments and/or increase costs. High-yield debt securities are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than investment-grade debt securities because there may be no established secondary market. Investments in high-yield debt securities could increase liquidity risk for the fund. In addition, the market for high-yield debt securities could experience sudden and sharp volatility, which is generally associated more with investments in stocks.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares or the Fund’s underlying portfolio securities, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Accordingly, if a shareholder purchases Fund 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.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund’s investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. In addition, the Index Provider may be subject to business or regulatory changes that impair its ability to continue to operate the Index in its current form.
58
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV or differences between the securities prices used to value the Index and those used by the Fund), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, securities lending earnings, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain qualification for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Index does not. INDEX-BASED EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS (“ETFs”) THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN HIGH YIELD SECURITIES MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Bond Risk. The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security typically issued by a corporate or government issuer that has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by corporations and governments to borrow money from investors. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, in which case the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, the Fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a “coupon” rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).
Corporate Bond Risk. The Fund will invest in corporate bonds, which are debt instruments issued by corporations to raise capital. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of an obligation. The Fund invests in fixed income securities of high yield issuers that may exhibit higher levels of credit risk than other types of fixed income instruments.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Limited History of Operations Risk. The Fund has a limited history of operations for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve sufficient scale, it may be liquidated.
Focused Investment Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, sub-sectors, industries, groups of industries, asset classes, markets, regions, countries, or groups of countries, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. In addition, the value of the Fund’s shares may change at different rates compared to the value of shares of a fund with investments in a more diversified mix of sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. An individual sector, sub-sector, industry, group of industries, asset-class, market, region, country, or group of countries may outperform the broader market during particular periods, but may do so with considerably greater volatility than the broader market. In addition, the several industries that constitute a sector or sub-sector or the several countries or markets that constitute a region or group of countries may all react similarly to economic, political, regulatory or other market events. The Fund’s performance could also be affected if the sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries do not perform as expected. Alternatively, a lack of exposure to one or more other sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries may adversely affect performance.
59
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BIM generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets or changing interest rate environments.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low, or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Risks associated with rising interest rates are heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from historically low levels and may continue to raise interest rates. In addition, changes in monetary policy may exacerbate the risks associated with changing interest rates. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Index are substituted, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may “call” or repay the security prior to its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates, which would result in a decline in the Fund’s income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Inflation Risk. Inflation is a sustained rise in overall price levels. Moderate inflation is associated with economic growth, while high inflation can signal an overheated economy. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money (i.e., as inflation increases, the values of the Fund’s assets can decline). Inflation poses a “stealth” threat to investors because it reduces savings and investment returns. Central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, generally attempt to control inflation by regulating the pace of economic activity. They typically attempt to affect economic activity by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. At times, governments may attempt to manage inflation through fiscal policy, such as by raising taxes or reducing spending, thereby reducing economic activity; conversely, governments can attempt to combat deflation with tax cuts and increased spending designed to stimulate economic activity. Inflation rates may change frequently and significantly as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy and changes in economic policies, and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund shareholders. This risk is greater for fixed-income instruments with longer maturities.
Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, the advent of significant inflation, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Consumer Non-Cyclicals Sector Risk. The consumer non-cyclicals sector consists principally of consumer staples companies that operate in numerous sub-sectors, including the consumer goods, discount stores, food & drug retail, restaurants, and utilities sub-sectors. Investments in the consumer non-cyclicals sector involve risks associated with companies that manufacture products and provide discretionary services directly to the consumer. Performance of companies in the consumer non-cyclicals sector may be adversely impacted by fluctuations in supply and demand, changes in the global economy, consumer spending, competition, demographics and consumer preferences, and production spending. Companies in the consumer non-cyclicals sector are also affected by changes in government regulation, global economic, environmental and political events, and economic conditions.
Consumer Staples Sub-Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer goods sub-sector may be strongly affected by social trends, marketing campaigns and other factors affecting consumer demand. Governmental regulation affecting the use of various food additives may affect the profitability of certain consumer goods companies represented in the Index. Many consumer goods in the U.S. may also be marketed globally, and such consumer goods companies may be affected by the demand and market conditions in non-U.S. countries.
60
Utilities Sub-Sector Risk. The utilities sub-sector may be adversely affected by changing commodity prices, government regulation stipulating rates charged by utilities, increased tariffs, changes in tax laws, interest rate fluctuations and changes in the cost of providing specific utility services. The utilities sub-sector is also subject to potential terrorist attacks, including hacks and cyber-security attacks, natural disasters and severe weather conditions, as well as regulatory and operational burdens associated with the operation and maintenance of nuclear facilities. Government regulators monitor and control utility revenues and costs, and therefore may limit utility profits. In certain countries, regulatory authorities may also restrict a company’s access to new markets, thereby diminishing the company’s long-term prospects.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Risk of Investing in the United States. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund’s investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, sector, sub-sector, market segment, market, industry, group of industries, country, group of countries, region or asset class.
Non-Diversification
Risk.
Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may invest up to an aggregate amount of 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund’s shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund’s NAV. The high yield securities in which the Fund invests may experience greater liquidity challenges than other types of securities during periods of market stress.
61
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and Authorized Participants are not obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is willing or able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
Exchange-Traded Fund and Other Investment Company Risk. The Fund may invest in shares of other investment companies and ETFs. Shareholders bear both their proportionate share of the Fund’s expenses and similar expenses of the underlying investment company or ETF when the Fund invests in shares of another investment company or ETF. The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETF or investment company’s investments. The price and movement of an ETF designed to track an index may not track the index and may result in a loss. In addition, ETFs may trade at a price above (premium) or below (discount) their net asset value, especially during periods of significant market volatility or stress, causing investors to pay significantly more or less than the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio. Certain ETFs traded on exchanges may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the “ask” price quoted by a seller and the “bid” price offered by a buyer.
Management Risk. Because BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund may not be able to fully replicate the Index and may hold securities not included in the Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BIM’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.
Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, Authorized Participants, market makers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and computer, technology or systems failures. The Fund and BIM seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by the Index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the Fund not fair-valued securities or used a different valuation methodology. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by a lack of current market prices, technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic or computer systems of the Fund, BIM, the Fund’s distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
62
Years | Returns |
---|---|
2023 |
The
Fund’s best and worst calendar quarters
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS
(for the period ended December 31, 2023)
1 Year | Since Inception ( ) |
|||||||
% | % | |||||||
ICE
Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Consumer Non-Cyclical
Index ( |
% | % |
63
Management
Investment Adviser. BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation.
Portfolio Managers. Elya Schwartzman and Daniel Goldman (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Schwartzman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since the Fund’s inception. Mr. Goldman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund since February 2024.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at a market price. When you buy or sell shares of the Fund, you may be required to pay a brokerage commission, and you may experience tax consequences, including gains or losses, in connection with these transactions. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.bondbloxxetf.com. Further, the website will disclose the Fund’s median bid-ask spread over the most recent thirty calendar days.
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BIM or other related companies have in the past and could in the future pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
64
SECTOR ROTATION ETF
The BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Sector Rotation ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide total return by primarily investing its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds in the various sectors of the fixed income securities market through other exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”).
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investments)
Management Fees | % | |||
Distribution and Service (12b-1) | ||||
Other Expenses1 | % | |||
Acquired (Underlying) Fund Fees and Expenses2 | % | |||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | % | |||
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement3 | ( |
)% | ||
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement | % |
1 |
2 |
3 |
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
The
Fund and the Underlying Funds may pay transaction costs, such as commissions,
when they buy and sell securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher
portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or the Underlying Funds may indicate higher
transaction costs, may cause the Fund or the Underlying Funds to incur increased
expenses and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable
account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating
Expenses or in the Example (except costs to the Underlying Funds included as
part of Acquired (Underlying) Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund’s
performance. To the extent an Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio
turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund.
For the period from July 1, 2023 to October 31, 2023, the Fund’s portfolio
turnover rate was
65
The Fund is “actively managed” and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The Fund is newly organized and operates as a “fund of funds,” meaning that it primarily invests its assets in securities of other ETFs. In particular, the Fund allocates its assets among ETFs that each focus on U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds (commonly referred to as “junk bonds”) in the various sectors of the fixed income securities market (each, a “Sector” and collectively, the “Sectors”). As of December 31, 2023, , the Sectors include: the Industrials, Telecom, Media & Technology, Healthcare, Financial & REIT, Energy, Consumer Cyclicals, and Consumer Non-Cyclicals Sectors. Exposure to the Sectors is obtained by investing in ETFs that invest in the specific sectors included in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (the “Underlying Benchmark”), which is a rules-based index consisting of U.S. dollar-denominated below investment grade corporate debt, currently in a coupon paying period, that is publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market (as determined by ICE Data Indices, LLC (“IDI” or “Index Provider”)). The sector classifications as determined by IDI are subject to change and are not controlled by the Fund or BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation (the “Adviser” or “BIM”), the Fund’s and the Underlying Funds’ (as defined below) investment adviser. The ETFs in which the Fund invests are: BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Industrial Sector ETF (ticker: XHYI), BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Telecom, Media & Technology Sector ETF (ticker: XHYT), BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Healthcare Sector ETF (ticker: XHYH), BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Financial & REIT Sector ETF (ticker: XHYF), BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Energy Sector ETF |(ticker: XHYE), BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Consumer Cyclicals Sector ETF (ticker: XHYC) and BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Consumer Non-Cyclicals Sector ETF (ticker: XHYD) (each, an “Underlying Fund”). The Fund will be close to fully invested at all times in the Underlying Funds. Each Underlying Fund is an affiliated fund advised by the Adviser.
The Adviser has retained Delaware Investments Fund Advisers, a series of Macquarie Investment Management Business Trust, a Delaware statutory trust (the “Sub-Adviser”), to provide the Adviser with periodic asset allocation advisory services with respect to the Underlying Funds. “Sector rotation” refers to the allocation and reallocation of Fund assets from one or more Sectors into one or more other Sectors. The Sub-Adviser makes asset allocation recommendations among the Underlying Funds based on its fundamental investment approach that takes into consideration the analysis of macroeconomic, financial and market data to formulate decisions regarding the recommended sector allocation(s) within the portfolio, which may result in the allocation and reallocation of Fund assets from one or more Sectors into one or more other Sectors.
The Sub-Adviser’s recommended allocations may attempt to enhance returns relative to the Underlying Benchmark by overweighting and underweighting exposure to the Sectors and this may consequently increase or reduce the Fund’s overall exposure to certain Underlying Funds. It is possible the Fund may not have exposure to all Sectors or Underlying Funds at all times.
The Adviser typically rebalances the Fund’s portfolio of Underlying Funds on a monthly basis after receiving asset allocation recommendations from the Sub-Adviser, although rebalancing may occur more or less frequently depending on market conditions. As a result of frequent rebalances, the Fund may experience a high turnover rate.
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of borrowings for investment purposes) directly or indirectly through the Underlying Funds, in high yield bonds issued by U.S. companies. High yield bonds are below investment grade securities (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds”) that are rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s or similar securities that are unrated but considered to be of equivalent quality by BIM. The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, U.S. Treasury obligations, U.S. Government obligations, U.S. agency securities, securities of other registered investment companies, cash and cash equivalents.
The Fund is non-diversified, which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a particular issuer and may invest in fewer issuers than a diversified fund.
66
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s), or similar securities that are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default. High-yield debt securities’ total return and yield may generally be expected to fluctuate more than the total return and yield of investment-grade debt securities. A real or perceived economic downturn or an increase in market interest rates could cause a decline in the value of high-yield debt securities, result in increased redemptions and/or result in increased portfolio turnover, which could result in a decline in the NAV of the Fund, reduce liquidity for certain investments and/or increase costs. High-yield debt securities are often thinly traded and can be more difficult to sell and value accurately than investment-grade debt securities because there may be no established secondary market. Investments in high-yield debt securities could increase liquidity risk for the fund. In addition, the market for high-yield debt securities could experience sudden and sharp volatility, which is generally associated more with investments in stocks.
High yield securities that are unrated expose investors to risks with respect to capacity to pay interest or repay principal that are similar to the risks of below investment grade bonds. Evaluation of these securities is dependent on BIM’s judgment, analysis and experience in the evaluation of such securities.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares or the Fund’s underlying portfolio securities, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. Accordingly, if a shareholder purchases Fund 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.
Investment in the Underlying Funds Risk. The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Funds. Accordingly, the Fund’s investment performance will be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Funds, and the Fund is subject to the risk factors associated with the investments of the Underlying Funds and will be affected by the investment policies and practices of the Underlying Funds in direct proportion to the amount of assets allocated to each. To the extent the Fund is exposed more heavily to one or more particular Sectors, its performance will be especially sensitive to risks associated with those Sectors, which include:
● | Industrial Sector Risk. Industrial companies are affected by supply and demand both for their specific product or service and for industrial sector products in general. Government regulation, world events, exchange rates and economic conditions, technological developments and liabilities for environmental damage and general civil liabilities will likewise affect the performance of these companies. |
● | Telecom, Media and Technology Sector Risk. The telecom, media and technology sector consists of a number of sub-sectors, including the telecommunications, communication services, technology and electronics and media sub-sectors. These sectors are subject to the risks of rapid innovation and obsolescence cycles, intellectual property theft, government regulation, cybersecurity incidents and labor force challenges, among others. There is significant competition for technological advances, and issuers that fail to innovate will be adversely impacted. In addition, issuers in certain sub-sectors require substantial capital investments to develop products and services. |
● | Healthcare Sector Risk. The profitability of companies in the healthcare sector may be adversely affected by the following factors, among others: extensive government regulations, restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure, an increased emphasis on outpatient and tele-health services, changes in the demand for medical products and services, a limited number of products, industry innovation, changes in technologies and other market developments. |
● | Financial Sector Risk. The financial sector consists of numerous sub-sectors, including the banking, financial services, insurance and REIT sub-sectors. Companies in the financial sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financial sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financial sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower’s or counterparty’s inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financial sector generally. Companies in the financial sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. The financial sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. Events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect one industry, such as the financial services industry, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems, may spread to other industries, and could negatively affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments. The financial sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. In recent years, cyberattacks and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund. |
67
● | Energy Sector Risk. The energy sector consists of a number of sub-sectors, including the exploration & production, gas distribution, oil field equipment & services, and oil refining & marketing sub-sectors. The success of companies in the energy sector may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by companies in the energy sector may decline for the following reasons, among others: changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, geopolitical instability and capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources; exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, and tax treatment; regulation of energy production and the cost and availability of government subsidies; and energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Companies in this sector may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. |
● | Consumer Cyclicals Sector Risk. The consumer cyclicals sector consists of a number of sub-sectors, including the automotive, consumer discretionary, leisure, real estate development and management, department store and specialty retail sub-sectors. The success of consumer cyclical companies is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and preferences. Companies in the consumer cyclicals sector depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. |
● | Consumer Non-Cyclicals Sector Risk. The consumer non-cyclicals sector consists principally of consumer staples companies that operate in numerous sub-sectors, including the consumer goods, discount stores, food & drug retail, restaurants, and utilities sub-sectors. Investments in the consumer non-cyclicals sector involve risks associated with companies that manufacture products and provide discretionary services directly to the consumer. Performance of companies in the consumer non-cyclicals sector may be adversely impacted by fluctuations in supply and demand, changes in the global economy, consumer spending, competition, demographics and consumer preferences, and production spending. Companies in the consumer non-cyclicals sector are also affected by global economic, environmental and political events, and economic conditions. The products of consumer non-cyclical companies are subject to government regulation which may negatively impact such companies’ performance. |
A strategy used by the Underlying Funds may fail to produce the intended results. If the Fund has allocated a higher portion of its net assets to a particular Underlying Fund, it may be more susceptible to adverse developments affecting that Underlying Fund and may be more susceptible to losses because of these developments. The Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective will depend on the ability of the Underlying Funds to achieve their investment objectives. There can be no assurance that the investment objective of any Underlying Fund can be achieved. With respect to the Underlying Funds, which are all designed to track an index, the price and movement of an ETF designed to track an index may not track the index and may result in a loss. In addition, ETFs may trade at a price above (premium) or below (discount) their net asset value, especially during periods of significant market volatility or stress, causing investors to pay significantly more or less than the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio. Certain ETFs traded on exchanges may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the “ask” price quoted by a seller and the “bid” price offered by a buyer.
The Fund’s NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Funds and other investments based on their market valuations. The Fund’s market price may deviate from value of the Fund’s underlying holdings, particularly in times of market stress, and as a result, investors may pay more or receive less than the underlying value of the Fund’s shares bought or sold. See also “-Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) and Other Investment Company Risk” below. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Funds.
Affiliated ETF Risk. The Adviser receives advisory fees from the Underlying Funds. It is possible that a conflict of interest among the Fund and the Underlying Funds could affect how the Adviser fulfills its fiduciary duties to the Fund and the Underlying Funds. The Adviser may have an incentive to take into account the effect on an Underlying Fund in which the Fund may invest in determining whether, and under what circumstances, to purchase or sell shares in that Underlying Fund. In addition, the fees payable to the Adviser by certain of the Underlying Funds may be higher than the fee payable by the Fund. However, the Adviser has a fiduciary duty to act in the Fund’s best interests when selecting the Underlying Funds.
Asset Allocation Risk. The Fund’s investment performance depends upon the successful allocation by the Adviser of the Fund’s assets among the Sectors after Adviser receives asset allocation recommendations from the Sub-Adviser. There is no guarantee that the allocation techniques and decisions made in connection therewith will produce the desired results. Any imperfections, errors or limitations in the allocation techniques and decisions made could result in investment outcomes different from or opposite to those expected or desired by the Fund.
68
Exchange-Traded Fund and Other Investment Company Risk. The Fund may invest in shares of other investment companies and ETFs, including the affiliated Underlying Funds. Shareholders bear both their proportionate share of the Fund’s expenses and similar expenses of the underlying investment company or ETF when the Fund invests in shares of another investment company or ETF. The Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETF or investment company’s investments. The price and movement of an ETF designed to track an index may not track the index and may result in a loss. In addition, ETFs may trade at a price above (premium) or below (discount) their net asset value, especially during periods of significant market volatility or stress, causing investors to pay significantly more or less than the value of the ETF’s underlying portfolio. Certain ETFs traded on exchanges may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the “ask” price quoted by a seller and the “bid” price offered by a buyer.
Bond Risk. The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security typically issued by a corporate or government issuer that has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond’s face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by corporations and governments to borrow money from investors. An issuer may have the right to redeem or “call” a bond before maturity, in which case the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, the Fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a “coupon” rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer’s general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).
Corporate Bond Risk. The Fund will invest in corporate bonds, which are debt instruments issued by corporations to raise capital. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in an Underlying Fund’s underlying index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.
Limited History of Operations Risk. The Fund has a limited history of operations for investors to evaluate. The Fund may not attract sufficient assets to achieve or maximize investment and operational efficiencies and remain viable. If the Fund fails to achieve sufficient scale, it may be liquidated.
Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low, or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Risks associated with rising interest rates are heightened under current market conditions given that the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised interest rates from historically low levels and may continue to raise interest rates. In addition, changes in monetary policy may exacerbate the risks associated with changing interest rates. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
69
Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline if interest rates fall. This decline in income can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in an Underlying Fund’s underlying index are substituted, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may “call” or repay the security prior to its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower interest rates, which would result in a decline in the Fund’s income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer’s or counterparty’s financial condition and on the terms of an obligation. The Fund invests in fixed income securities of high yield issuers that may exhibit higher levels of credit risk than other types of fixed income instruments.
Inflation Risk. Inflation is a sustained rise in overall price levels. Moderate inflation is associated with economic growth, while high inflation can signal an overheated economy. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money (i.e., as inflation increases, the values of the Fund’s assets can decline). Inflation poses a “stealth” threat to investors because it reduces savings and investment returns. Central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, generally attempt to control inflation by regulating the pace of economic activity. They typically attempt to affect economic activity by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. At times, governments may attempt to manage inflation through fiscal policy, such as by raising taxes or reducing spending, thereby reducing economic activity; conversely, governments can attempt to combat deflation with tax cuts and increased spending designed to stimulate economic activity. Inflation rates may change frequently and significantly as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in the domestic or global economy and changes in economic policies, and the Fund’s investments may not keep pace with inflation, which may result in losses to Fund shareholders. This risk is greater for fixed-income instruments with longer maturities.
Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, the advent of significant inflation, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Risk of Investing in the United States. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure. In addition, a natural disaster could occur in a geographic region of the United States in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Concentration Risk. It is possible the Fund may not have exposure to all Sectors or Underlying Funds at all times. Accordingly, the Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund’s investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that, based on the Fund’s exposure to certain Sectors or Underlying Funds at various times, the Fund’s investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, sector, sub-sector, market segment, market, industry, group of industries, country, group of countries, region or asset class.
70
Each Underlying Fund has an industry concentration policy such that the Underlying Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that its underlying index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities), repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities, and tax-exempt securities of state or municipal governments and their political subdivisions are not considered to be issued by members of any industry. As of December 31, 2023: with respect to BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Industrial Sector ETF, its underlying index holds 25% or more of its assets in the basic industry, capital goods, and services sub-sectors; with respect to BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Telecom, Media & Technology Sector ETF, its underlying index currently holds 25% or more of its assets in the media and telecommunications sub-sectors; with respect to BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Healthcare Sector ETF, its underlying index currently holds 25% or more of its assets in the healthcare sub-sector; with respect to BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Financial & REIT Sector ETF, its underlying index currently holds 25% or more of its assets in the financial services and REIT sub-sectors; with respect to BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Energy Sector ETF, its underlying index currently holds 25% or more of its assets in the energy sub-sector; with respect to BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Consumer Cyclicals Sector ETF, its underlying index currently holds 25% or more of its assets in the leisure sub-sector; and with respect to BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Consumer Non-Cyclicals Sector ETF, its underlying index currently holds 25% or more of its assets in the consumer goods and utilities sub-sectors.
To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors, sub-sectors, industries, groups of industries, asset classes, markets, regions, countries, or groups of countries, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. In addition, the value of the Fund’s shares may change at different rates compared to the value of shares of a fund with investments in a more diversified mix of sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries. An individual sector, sub-sector, industry, group of industries, asset-class, market, region, country, or group of countries may outperform the broader market during particular periods, but may do so with considerably greater volatility than the broader market. In addition, the several industries that constitute a sector or sub-sector or the several countries or markets that constitute a region or group of countries may all react similarly to economic, political, regulatory or other market events. The Fund’s performance could also be affected if the sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries do not perform as expected. Alternatively, a lack of exposure to one or more other sectors, sub-sectors, industries, asset classes, markets, regions, or countries may adversely affect performance.
Non-Diversification
Risk.
Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may invest up to an aggregate amount of 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund’s shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund’s NAV. The high yield securities in which the Fund invests may experience greater liquidity challenges than other types of securities during periods of market stress.
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”). Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and Authorized Participants are not obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable or unwilling to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is willing or able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.
71
Management Risk. Because BIM uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, an Underlying Fund may not be able to fully replicate its underlying index and may hold securities not included in the underlying index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BIM’s investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.
Portfolio Turnover Risk. High portfolio turnover (considered by the Fund and the Underlying Funds to mean higher than 100% annually) may result in increased transaction costs to the Fund or an Underlying Fund, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of the securities and on reinvestment in other securities.
Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, Authorized Participants, market makers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and computer, technology or systems failures. The Fund and BIM seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset and from the value used by an Underlying Fund’s underlying index, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the Fund not fair-valued securities or used a different valuation methodology. The Fund’s ability to value investments may be impacted by a lack of current market prices, technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic or computer systems of the Fund, BIM, the Fund’s distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund’s business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
IBOR Risk. IBOR risk refers to the risk that changes related to the use of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) or similar rates (such as the Euro Overnight Index Average, which ceased publication on January 3, 2022) could have adverse impacts on payment obligations, financing terms, and financial instruments that reference these rates. The abandonment of these rates and transition to alternative rates could affect the value and liquidity of instruments that reference them and could affect investment strategy performance.
For example, in connection with the global transition away from LIBOR led by regulators and market participants, LIBOR is no longer published on a representative basis. In addition, global regulators have announced that, with limited exceptions, no new LIBOR-based contracts should be entered into after 2021. Although the transition process away from LIBOR has become increasingly well-defined, there remains uncertainty regarding the nature of any replacement rate, and any potential effects of the transition away from LIBOR on the Fund or on certain instruments in which the Fund invests can be difficult to ascertain. Various financial industry groups have been planning for the transition away from LIBOR, but there are challenges to converting certain securities and transactions to a new reference rate. Markets are developing in response to these new rates but questions around the liquidity of the new rates and how to appropriately adjust these rates to eliminate any economic value transfer at the time of transition remain a significant concern. The transition process may involve, among other things, increased volatility or illiquidity in markets for instruments related to LIBOR and may result in a reduction in value of certain instruments held by the Fund.
The
Fund acquired the assets and liabilities of the Predecessor Fund, following the
reorganization of the Predecessor Fund with and into the Fund on September 18,
2023. Prior to the reorganization, the Predecessor Fund was advised by another
investment adviser, had a different investment objective and policies, and was a
passively managed fund that sought to track the performance of the Markit iBoxx
Liquid Leveraged Loan Index. The Predecessor Fund’s performance for the periods
prior to the reorganization is not shown.
72
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Management
Investment Adviser. BondBloxx Investment Management Corporation.
Sub-Adviser. Delaware Investments Fund Advisers, a series of Macquarie Investment Management Business Trust, a Delaware statutory trust, serves as the Fund’s investment sub-adviser.
Portfolio Managers. Elya Schwartzman and Daniel Goldman (the “Portfolio Managers”) serve as the portfolio managers of the Fund and the Underlying Funds. Messrs. Schwartzman and Goldman are also responsible for implementing the Sub-Adviser’s asset allocation recommendations and overseeing the day-to-day investment strategy of the Fund. Mr. Schwartzman has been a fixed income portfolio manager of the Fund and each Underlying Fund since the Underlying Fund’s inception, and Mr. Goldman has been a fixed income Portfolio Manager of the Fund and each Underlying Fund since February 2024.
The Sub-Adviser’s portfolio management team has responsibility for providing the Fund’s asset allocation advisory services.
Adam Brown, CFA, and John McCarthy, CFA, oversee the Sub-Adviser’s asset allocation advisory services and recommend the allocation and reallocation of assets among the Underlying Funds.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at a market price. When you buy or sell shares of the Fund, you may be required to pay a brokerage commission, and you may experience tax consequences, including gains or losses, in connection with these transactions. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.bondbloxxetf.com.
Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BIM or other related companies could in the future pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
73
More Information About the Funds
This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Funds. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Funds is available at www.bondbloxxetf.com.
The investment objective of each Fund (other than the BondBloxx USD High Yield Bond Sector Rotation ETF (the “Sector Rotation Fund”)) is to track the investment results of its Index. Each Index is composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds from a particular sector or group of sectors. Each Fund’s investment objective and the Index may be changed without shareholder approval.
As its investment objective, the Sector Rotation Fund seeks to provide total return by primarily investing its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds in the various sectors of the fixed income securities market through other ETFs. The Fund’s investment objective may be changed without shareholder approval by the Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) upon written notice to shareholders. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing its assets in the Underlying Funds, each of which invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in high-yield, below investment grade, bonds of issuers in the sector suggested by the respective Underlying Fund’s name that are tied economically to the United States, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through derivatives). Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of borrowings for investment purposes) directly or indirectly through the Underlying Funds in high-yield securities of U.S. companies. High yield bonds are below investment grade securities (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds”) that are rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch or below “Baa3” by Moody’s or similar securities that are unrated but considered to be of equivalent quality by BIM. The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, U.S. Treasury obligations, U.S. Government obligations, U.S. agency securities, securities of other registered investment companies, cash and cash equivalents.
BIM is the investment adviser to the Funds. Shares of the Funds are listed for trading on NYSE Arca (“NYSE”). The market price for a share of a Fund may be different from the Fund’s most recent NAV.
ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. Each Fund (other than the Sector Rotation Fund) is designed to track an index. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of a Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments (with respect to the Sector Funds other than the Sector Rotation Fund) intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Funds may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Funds at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (“Creation Units”). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Funds are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.
An investment in a Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BIM or any of its affiliates.
Additional Information for All Funds Other than the Sector Rotation Fund
Each Fund invests in a particular segment of the securities markets and seeks to track the performance of a securities index that is not representative of the market as a whole. Each Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that its Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities), repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities, and tax-exempt securities of state or municipal governments and their political subdivisions are not considered to be issued by members of any industry. Each Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in a Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.
An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while each Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Funds and the Indexes may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), securities lending earnings, timing variances and differences between a Fund’s portfolio and an Index resulting from the Fund’s use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to an Index. Unless otherwise determined by BIM, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.
74
“Tracking error” is the divergence of a Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Because each Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. “Replication” is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the underlying index.
Each Fund’s respective Index is reconstituted and rebalanced monthly on the last calendar day of the month, based on information available up to and including the third business day before the last business day of the month. The Index Provider may change the rules of an Index or the Underlying Index over time.
Underlying Index. Each Fund’s Index is composed of a subset of bonds in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (the “Underlying Index”). As of December 31, 2023, the bonds eligible for inclusion in the Underlying Index include U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds, currently in a coupon paying period, that are publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market, and that: (i) are issued by companies having “risk exposure” to countries (i.e., issuers that are subject to the risks of one or more of these countries as a result of the principal country of domicile of the issuers (as determined by the Index Provider)) that are members of the FX-G10, which include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. and their respective territories; (ii) have an average rating of below investment grade (ratings from Fitch, Moody’s or S&P Global Ratings are considered; if more than one agency provides a rating, the average rating is attached to the bond); (iii) are registered with the SEC, exempt from registration at issuance, or offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, with or without registration rights; (iv) have at least $250 million of outstanding face value; (v) have an original maturity date of at least 18 months at time of issuance; and (vi) have at least one year to maturity as of the rebalancing date. Underlying Index constituents are capitalization-weighted, based on their current amount outstanding, provided the total allocation to an individual issuer does not exceed 2% of the market capitalization of the Underlying Index. There is no upper limit on the maturity of bonds eligible for inclusion in the Underlying Index.
Index Construction. When constructing each Index, the Index Provider first identifies components of the Underlying Index that fall within the relevant sectors and/or sub-sectors for each Fund. The Index Provider determines whether an issuer is categorized within a sector or sub-sector based on whether 50% or more of a company’s revenues are derived from the applicable sector or sub-sector.
A 25% cap is then applied to each issuer in the Index, with any excess weight redistributed to uncapped issuers on a pro rata basis. Next, the resulting qualified constituents are sorted into either a small cap group (with issuer weights of less than 5%) or a large cap group (with issuer weights greater than or equal to 5%). Within the small cap group, a 4.85% issuer cap is applied to each issuer, and the excess weight is distributed to issuers under the 4.85% cap on a pro rata basis. Within the large cap group, if the weight of the large cap group is greater than 48% of the Index, the weight of the large cap group is reduced pro rata to equal 48% of the Index (no issuer weight in the large cap group will be reduced below 5%). This process in the large cap group is repeated until the large cap group weight is 48% of the Index. Any excess weight from reducing the weight of the large cap group is then distributed to the below-cap issuers in the small cap group. If all issuers in the small cap group reach 4.85% of the Index, any remaining excess weight is distributed to each issuer in the Index on a pro rata basis.
Name Policies. For purposes of each Fund’s 80% policy, each Fund values its derivative instruments based on their market value. To the extent a Fund invests in other registered investment companies, the Fund will consider the holdings of such registered investment company, to the extent they are known, for purposes of complying with the Fund’s 80% policy.
Index Concentration. As of December 31, 2023, each Index is concentrated in the sectors or sub-sectors noted below. The sectors in which each Index is concentrated may change over time.
Index | Sector or Sub-Sector Concentration |
ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Consumer Cyclical Index | Leisure |
ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Consumer Non-Cyclical Index | Consumer Goods; Utilities |
ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Core Industrials Index | Basic Industry; Capital Goods; Services |
ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Energy Index | Energy |
ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Financial & REIT Index | Financial Services; REITs |
ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Healthcare Index | Healthcare |
ICE Diversified US Cash Pay High Yield Telecom, Media & Technology Index | Media; Telecommunications |
75
A Further Discussion of Principal Risks
Each Fund is subject to various risks, (and with respect to the Sector Rotation Fund, either directly or indirectly through its investments in the Underlying Funds), including the principal risks noted below. Any such risk may adversely affect a Fund’s NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. You could lose all or a substantial part of your investment in a Fund, and a Fund could underperform other investments. Unless otherwise indicated, each of these risks is applicable to each Fund. Accordingly, all references to the “Fund” in this section and the section entitled “A Further Discussion of Other Risks” shall mean each Fund listed on the cover page of this prospectus, unless otherwise noted. For the Sector Fund, references to “Index” shall mean the Index of the Underlying Fund, as the context may require.
High Yield Securities Risk. Bonds that are rated below investment-grade (sometimes referred to as “junk bonds,” which may include those bonds rated below “BBB-” by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch, or below “Baa3” by Moody’s), or similar bonds that are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated bonds of similar maturity and may be more likely to default.
The major risks of high yield bond investments include:
■ | High yield bonds may be issued by less creditworthy issuers. Issuers of high yield bonds may have a larger amount of outstanding debt relative to their assets than issuers of investment-grade bonds. In the event of an issuer’s bankruptcy, claims of other creditors may have priority over the claims of high yield bond holders, leaving few or no assets available to repay high yield bond holders. |
■ | Prices of high yield bonds are subject to extreme price fluctuations. Adverse changes in an issuer’s sector and general economic conditions may have a greater impact on the prices of high yield bonds than on other higher rated fixed-income securities. The credit rating of a high yield security does not necessarily address its market value risk. Ratings and market value may change from time to time, positively or negatively, to reflect new developments regarding the issuer. |
■ | Issuers of high yield bonds may be unable to meet their interest or principal payment obligations because of an economic downturn, specific issuer developments, or the unavailability of additional financing. |
■ | High yield bonds frequently have redemption features that permit an issuer to repurchase the bond from the Fund before it matures. If the issuer redeems high yield bonds held by the Fund, the Fund may have to invest the proceeds in bonds with lower yields and may lose income. |
■ | High yield bonds may be less liquid than higher rated fixed-income securities, even under normal economic conditions. There are fewer dealers in the high yield bonds market, and there may be significant differences in the prices quoted for high yield bonds by the dealers. Because high yield bonds may be less liquid than higher rated fixed-income securities, judgment may play a greater role in valuing certain of the Fund’s bonds than is the case with bonds trading in a more liquid market. These valuation differences may lead to wider variations between the Fund’s NAV and the market price of the Fund’s shares. |
■ | The Fund may incur expenses to the extent necessary to seek recovery upon default or to negotiate new terms with a defaulting issuer. |
Market Trading Risk.
Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares or the Fund’s underlying portfolio securities will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.
76
Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund’s shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund’s primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund’s shares will continue to trade on any such 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. The Fund’s shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient due to information asymmetry, among other reasons.
Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.
Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for 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.
Shares of the 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 and price decreases associated with being sold short. Fund shares may be loaned, borrowed, pledged or purchased on margin, and certain ETFs have options associated with them. The use of Fund shares in these ways may result in increased volatility and larger premiums and discounts on Fund shares. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the Fund’s most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The trading price of the Fund’s shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for Fund shares and the underlying value of the Fund’s portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund’s shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BIM believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the 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, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.
Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the “bid-ask spread”; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the “ask” price). The bid-ask spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider bid-ask spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.
77
Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Index accurately, or that the Index will be determined, composed, disseminated or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Index will be in line with the Index Provider’s methodology. BIM’s mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Index provided by the Index Provider to BIM. BIM does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider’s or any agent’s errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Index’s correct constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Unusual market conditions may cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Index, which could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean that constituent