Example. 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 |
$40
|
$126
|
$222
|
$503
|
Portfolio Turnover. 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 Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. From inception, January 31, 2012, to the most recent
fiscal year end, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 6% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Underlying Index has been developed by MSCI
Inc. (“MSCI”) to measure the combined performance of equity securities of companies primarily engaged in the business of agriculture in both developed and emerging markets. MSCI begins with the MSCI All Country World Investable Market
Index, and then selects securities of companies that are primarily focused on early phase agricultural production, including companies engaged in the production of fertilizers, agricultural chemicals, agricultural products and farm machinery and
related parts.
Additionally, companies involved in the production of packaged
foods and meats are included in the Underlying Index to the extent they derive the majority of their total revenues from agricultural commodity production. Companies that are manufacturers of finished products that rely on agricultural commodities
as raw materials are excluded from the Underlying Index. As of June 30, 2012, the Underlying Index consisted of companies in the following 33 countries or regions: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United States. The Fund,
under normal market conditions, will invest at least 40% of its assets in issuers organized or located outside the United States or doing business outside the United States.
BFA 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 “beat” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive