Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
Under normal circumstances, the Fund seeks to invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in non-U.S. equity securities and equity-like instruments of companies that are components of, or have characteristics similar to, the companies included in the MSCI EAFE Index (the "Benchmark") and derivatives that are tied economically to securities of the Benchmark. The Benchmark is a capitalization-weighted index from a broad range of industries chosen for market size, liquidity and industry group representation. As of July 31, 2024, the issuers in the Benchmark have a market capitalization ranging from $1.8 billion to $431.6 billion.
Equity securities include common stock and preferred stock. The Fund primarily seeks to buy common stock and may also invest in preferred stock. The Fund may also purchase convertible securities.
The Fund seeks to maintain certain ESG characteristics, climate risk exposure and climate opportunities relative to the Benchmark. Specifically, the Fund generally seeks to invest in a portfolio of equity securities that, in BlackRock's view, (i) has an aggregate ESG assessment that is better than that of the Benchmark, (ii) has an aggregate carbon emissions assessment that is lower than that of the Benchmark, and (iii) in the aggregate, includes issuers that BlackRock believes are better positioned to capture climate opportunities relative to the issuers in the Benchmark. The Fund may invest in other sectors that are not included in such assessments.
BlackRock seeks to utilize exclusionary screens in determining the investment universe and to incorporate investment insights related to ESG characteristics in the portfolio construction process.
To determine the Fund's investable universe, Fund management will first seek to screen out certain issuers based on ESG criteria determined by BlackRock, subject to the considerations noted below. Such screening criteria principally includes: (i) issuers that derive more than zero percent of revenue from the production of controversial weapons; (ii) issuers that derive more than zero percent of revenue from the production of civilian firearms; (iii) issuers that derive more than zero percent of revenue from the production of tobacco-related products; (iv) issuers that derive more than five percent of revenue from thermal coal generation, unless such issuers either (a) have made certain commitments to reduce climate impact or (b) derive at least fifty percent of revenue from alternative energy sources; (v) issuers that derive more than five percent of revenue from thermal coal mining; and (vi) issuers that derive more than five percent of revenue from oil sands extraction.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Fund may invest in green bonds of issuers that exceed the thresholds stated in (iv), (v) and (vi) above. The Fund relies on one or more third-party ratings agencies to identify issuers for purposes of the above screening criteria. Third-party rating agencies may base the above screening criteria on an estimate when revenue for a covered business activity is not disclosed by the issuer or publicly available.
The Fund's screening criteria is measured at the time of investment and is dependent upon information and data that may be incomplete, inaccurate, unavailable or estimated. Where the Fund's criteria looks solely to third-party ratings or data, issuers are only screened to the extent such ratings or data have been assigned or made available by the third parties. This screening criteria is subject to change over time at BlackRock's discretion. In addition, the Fund may gain indirect exposure (through, including but not limited to, derivatives and investments in other investment companies) to issuers with exposures that are inconsistent with the ESG-related criteria used by BlackRock.
The Fund then seeks to pursue its investment objective by investing in equity securities in a disciplined manner, by using proprietary return forecast models that incorporate quantitative analysis. These forecast models are designed to identify aspects of mispricing across stocks which the Fund can seek to capture by over- and under-weighting particular equities while seeking to control incremental risk. The investment process is driven with systematic and quantitative implementation based on an issuer's expected returns, which include measurable ESG characteristics, risk and transaction costs, as determined by BlackRock's proprietary research.
BlackRock then constructs and rebalances the portfolio's weightings by integrating its investment insights with the model-based optimization process. Certain of the investment insights relate to ESG characteristics in BlackRock-defined categories, including, but not limited to, (i) superior growth characteristics of issuers, (ii) risk mitigation characteristics of issuers, (iii) themes related to social matters and (iv) economic transition, which includes, but is not limited to, environmental considerations. Examples of such ESG characteristics include management quality, governance, controversies at issuers, public health analytics and an issuer's innovation-oriented research and development. The ESG characteristics utilized in the portfolio construction process may change over time and one or more characteristics may not be relevant to all issuers that are eligible for investment.
From time to time, the Fund may invest in shares of companies through "new issues" or initial public offerings ("IPOs"). The Fund will invest in securities of non-U.S. issuers that can be U.S. dollar based or non-U.S. dollar based on a hedged or unhedged basis. The Fund may enter into currency transactions on a hedged or unhedged basis in order to seek total return.