iShares Trust

04/01/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/01/2021 04:09

Filing by Investment Company (SEC Filing - 497K)

Form 497K
March 1, 2021
(as revised April 1, 2021)
2021 Summary Prospectus
•  iShares iBonds 2021 Term High Yield and Income ETF* | IBHA | CBOE BZX
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund's prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund's prospectus (including amendments and supplements) and other information about the Fund, including the Fund's statement of additional information and shareholder reports, online at https://www.ishares.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or by sending an e-mail request to [email protected], or from your financial professional. The Fund's prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated March 1, 2021, as amended and supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into (legally made a part of) this Summary Prospectus. Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com.
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.
*The iShares iBonds 2021 Term High Yield and Income ETF may also conduct business as the iBonds 2021 Term High Yield and Income ETF.
iSHARES® iBONDS® 2021 TERM HIGH YIELD AND INCOME ETF
Ticker: IBHA Stock Exchange: Cboe BZX
Investment Objective
The iShares iBonds 2021 Term High Yield and Income ETF (the 'Fund') seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield and other income generating corporate bonds maturing in 2021.
Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares Trust (the 'Trust') and BlackRock Fund Advisors ('BFA') (the 'Investment Advisory Agreement') provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur 'Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses.' Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred by investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the Financial Highlights section of the Fund's prospectus (the 'Prospectus').
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)
Fees
Other
Expenses 1
Acquired Fund Fees
and Expenses1,2
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
Fee Waiver1,2 Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
After
Fee Waiver
0.35% None 0.00% 0.00% 0.35% (0.00)% 0.35%
1 The amount rounded to 0.00%.
2 BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA or its affiliates through the termination date of the Fund, on or about December 15, 2021. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to the Fund's termination only upon the written agreement of the Trust and BFA.
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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. Fund expenses (and any applicable waivers) are calculated only through December 15, 2021 because the Fund is scheduled to cease operations and liquidate by that date. 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:
Maturity
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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 the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 50% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to meet its investment objective generally by investing in component securities of the Bloomberg Barclays 2021 Term High Yield and Income Index (the 'Underlying Index'). The Fund may also invest in other exchange-traded funds ('ETFs'), U.S. government securities, short-term paper, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates.
The Fund is a term fund that will terminate on or about December 15, 2021, at which time it will distribute its
remaining net assets to shareholders pursuant to a plan of liquidation. The Fund does not seek to return any predetermined amount at maturity or in periodic distributions. The Underlying Index is composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, taxable, fixed-rate, high yield (which are considered below investment-grade) and BBB or equivalently rated (as determined by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (the 'Index Provider' or 'Bloomberg')) corporate bonds scheduled to mature between January 1, 2021 and December 15, 2021, inclusive. Securities eligible for inclusion in the Underlying Index are selected from a universe of corporate issuers (e.g., industrial, financial institutions, utilities) determined by Bloomberg. As of October 31, 2020, a significant portion of the Underlying Index is represented by securities of companies in the financials industry or sector. The components of the Underlying Index are likely to change over time.
The bonds in the Underlying Index have $250 million or more of outstanding face value at the time of inclusion. The non-U.S. corporate issuers included in the Underlying Index consist primarily of corporate bonds issued by companies
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domiciled in developed countries. The Fund will invest in non-U.S. issuers to the extent necessary for it to track the Underlying Index. Each bond included in the Underlying Index must be registered with the SEC, have been exempt from registration at issuance, or have been offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the '1933 Act'). Subject to the methodology of the Underlying Index discussed below, the securities in the Underlying Index may carry a coupon that steps-up according to a predetermined schedule (i.e., the interest rate paid on such securities will increase over time). The Underlying Index will be subject to issuer limits of 3%, with any excess redistributed among the remaining constituents on a pro-rata basis.
The securities in the Underlying Index are updated on the last calendar day of each month until six months before maturity, with the last rebalance date on June 30, 2021.
The Underlying Index consists of bonds chosen from two sub-indices, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. High Yield Index (the 'High Yield Index') and the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate Index (the 'Corporate Index'), both of which are stripped of securities maturing outside of the maturity range defined above. BBB-rated bonds from the Corporate Index will be introduced to the Underlying Index under the following conditions: (1) in the last 2.5 years but before the last 6 months of the Underlying Index's term, the Underlying Index will introduce BBB-rated bonds (which are considered investment-grade) as constituent high yield bonds (which are considered below investment-grade) are called, no longer qualify for inclusion (due to, among
other factors, sector reclassifications of issuers, changes in the credit rating of bonds included in the Underlying Index or rebalances to maintain issuer limits), or decline in value compared to a reference point set at 2.5 years from the Underlying Index's term or (2) if, prior to the last 2.5 years remaining in the Underlying Index's term, the market value of the high yield bonds in the Underlying Index declines below $30 billion, the Underlying Index will add BBB-rated bonds to maintain a $30 billion minimum market value for the Underlying Index. In the final year of the Underlying Index's term, any principal and interest paid by index constituents is treated as follows: (1) during the first six months of the final year, the Underlying Index reinvests proceeds pro-rata into the remaining bonds in the Underlying Index, and (2) during the last six months of the final year, proceeds are not reinvested and are presumed to be held in cash while earning no interest.
Bonds with a clean price (i.e., the price does not include accrued interest between coupon payments) below $60 at rebalance on or after April 1, 2021 are permanently excluded from the Underlying Index.
In addition, to be included in the Underlying Index, securities that are rated by all three of the rating agencies named below must be rated 'high yield' to be selected from the High Yield Index and 'BBB' to be selected from the Corporate Index. The bonds from the High Yield Index must have a rating equal to or below 'Ba1'/'BB+'/'BB+' and above 'CC'. The bonds from the Corporate Index must have a rating of 'BBB' (or equivalent). The Index Provider will use the middle rating of Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
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('Moody's'), Standard & Poor's® Global Ratings, a subsidiary of S&P Global ('S&P Global Ratings') and Fitch Ratings, Inc. ('Fitch'); when a rating from only two agencies is available, the lower is used; when only one agency rates a bond, that rating is used.
The Fund is a series of the iShares iBonds fixed maturity series of bond ETFs sponsored by BlackRock, Inc. ('BlackRock'). The iShares iBonds fixed maturity series do not invest in U.S. savings bonds or other U.S. government bonds (except to the extent the funds hold cash equivalent instruments consistent with their investment objectives) and are not designed to provide protection against inflation.
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 positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying 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.
BFA 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 underlying index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the
aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry 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 Underlying Index.
The Fund generally will invest at least 90% of its assets in the component securities of the Underlying Index, except during the last months of the Fund's operations, as described below, and may invest up to 10% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates ('BlackRock Cash Funds'), as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. From time to time when conditions warrant, however, the Fund may invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Underlying Index and may invest up to 20% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of BlackRock Cash Funds, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index.
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund. In the last six months of operation, as the bonds held by the Fund mature, the proceeds will not be reinvested by the Fund in bonds but instead will be held in cash and cash equivalents. To the extent that the Fund invests in money market or similar funds, it will incur the
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fees and expenses of such funds. By December 15, 2021, the Underlying Index is expected to consist almost entirely of cash acquired in this manner. On or around this date, the Fund will wind up and terminate, and its net assets will be distributed to then-current shareholders pursuant to a plan of liquidation. The Fund should not be confused with a target date fund, which has assets that are managed according to a particular investment strategy that convert fund assets to conservative investments over time.
The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received).
The Underlying Index is sponsored by Bloomberg, which is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.
Industry Concentration Policy. The 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 the 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 securities of state or municipal governments and their political subdivisions are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.
Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ('NAV'), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the 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.
Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this prospectus (the 'Prospectus')), a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. Therecan be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.
Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is 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
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market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is 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.
Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may 'call' or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.
Cash Management Risk. If a significant amount of the Fund's assets are invested in cash and cash equivalents, the Fund may underperform other funds that do not similarly invest in cash and cash equivalents for investment purposes and/or to collateralize derivative instruments.
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, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.
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.
Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund, the Fund's adviser, 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 Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.
Declining Yield Risk. During the six months prior to the Fund's planned termination date, the Fund's yield will generally tend to move toward prevailing money market rates and may be lower than the yields of the bonds previously held by the Fund and lower than prevailing yields for bonds in the market.
Financials Sector Risk. Performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit
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rating downgrades, and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. The impact of changes in capital requirements and recent or future regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. In recent years, cyberattacks and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.
Fluctuation of Yield and Liquidation Amount Risk. The Fund, unlike a direct investment in a bond that has a level coupon payment and a fixed payment at maturity, will make distributions of income that vary over time. It is expected that an investment in the Fund, if held through maturity, will produce aggregate returns comparable to a direct investment in a group of bonds of similar credit quality and maturity. Unlike a direct investment in bonds, the breakdown of returns between Fund distributions and liquidation proceeds are not predictable at the time of your investment. For example, at times during the Fund's existence it may make distributions at a greater (or lesser) rate than the coupon payments received on the Fund's portfolio, which would result in the Fund returning a lesser (or greater) amount on liquidation than would otherwise be the case. The rate of Fund distribution payments may adversely affect the tax characterization of your returns from an investment in the Fund relative to a direct investment in bonds. If the amount you receive as liquidation proceeds upon the Fund's termination is
higher or lower than your cost basis, you may experience a gain or loss for tax purposes.
High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (commonly 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 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. BBB-rated bonds, although investment-grade, may share some of the same speculative characteristics as 'junk bonds.'
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.
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 instruments as bonds in its
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portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Underlying Index are substituted, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds. As the Fund does not seek to return any predetermined amount at maturity or in periodic distributions, the amount of income generated by the Fund may vary during its term or when the BBB-rated bonds are added to the Underlying Index as constituent high yield bonds are called, no longer qualify for inclusion or decline in value compared to a reference point. Such change may result in a net decrease in the average yield of bonds held by the Fund. In addition, the Fund's income is expected to decline in the months leading up to its maturity date because its portfolio will increasingly consist of cash and cash equivalents.
Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying 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 Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying 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. To the extent that the Underlying Index includes a non-standard methodology, errors in index data, index computation or the construction of the Underlying Index may be more likely to occur. Unusual market conditions may cause the Index
Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.
Infectious Illness Risk. An outbreak of an infectious respiratory illness, COVID-19, caused by a novel coronavirus has resulted in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare systems, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic impacts. Certain markets have experienced temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. These events will have an impact on the Fund and its investments and could 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. Other infectious illness outbreaks in the future may result in similar impacts.
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. An increase in
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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 heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.
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 to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.
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, 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.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, 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.
Money Market Instruments Risk. The value of money market instruments may be affected by changing interest rates and by changes in the credit ratings of the investments. If a significant amount of the Fund's assets are invested in money market instruments, it will be more difficult for the Fund to achieve its investment objective. An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ('FDIC') or any other government agency. It is possible to lose money by investing in a money market fund. Money market funds other than government money market funds or retail money market funds 'float' their NAV instead of using a stable $1.00 per share price.
Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund may invest a large percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers. As a result, the Fund's performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers.
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, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be
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inadequate to address significant operational risks.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
Reinvestment Risk. The Fund may invest a portion of its assets in short-term fixed-income instruments and, as a result, may be adversely affected if interest rates fall because it may have to invest in lower-yielding instruments as bonds in the Fund's portfolio mature.
Reliance on Trading Partners Risk. The Fund invests in countries or regions whose economies are heavily dependent upon trading with key partners. Any reduction in this trading may have an adverse impact on the Fund's investments. Through its holdings of securities of certain issuers, the Fund is specifically exposed to Asian Economic Risk and North American Economic Risk.
Risk of Investing in the U.S. 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.
Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund.
Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying 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 Underlying 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), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements. 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 Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN HIGH YIELD SECURITIES MAY
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EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
Valuation Risk. Because the bond market may be open on days or during time periods when the Fund does not
price its shares, 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.
Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. Both assume that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.
Year by Year Returns (Year Ended December 31)
The best calendar quarter return during the period shown above was 4.71% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -7.04% in the 1st quarter of 2020.
Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).
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Average Annual Total Returns
(for the periods ended December 31, 2020)
One Year Since Fund
Inception
(Inception Date: 5/7/2019)
Return Before Taxes 0.62% 2.03%
Return After Taxes on Distributions1 -0.83% 0.38%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares1 0.34% 0.85%
Bloomberg Barclays 2021 Term High Yield and Income Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes) 0.32% 1.94%
1 After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ('IRAs'). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.
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Management
Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara (the 'Portfolio Managers') are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Ms. Uyehara have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2019 and 2021, respectively.
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. 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').
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 ('IRA'), 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), BFA or other related companies may 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.
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For more information visit www.iShares.com or call 1-800-474-2737
IS-SP-IBHA-0421
Investment Company Act file No.: 811-09729