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 large cap equity securities and derivatives that have similar economic characteristics to such securities. For purposes of the Fund’s 80% policy, large cap equity securities are equity securities that have a market capitalization within the range of companies included in the Russell 1000® Value Index (the “Russell 1000 Value Index”). The Russell 1000 Value Index is a capitalization-weighted index from a broad range of industries chosen for market size, liquidity and industry group representation. The Russell 1000 Value Index includes equity securities of issuers with a median market cap of $11.0 billion as of October 31, 2023. Equity securities consist of common stock, preferred stock and convertible securities, other financial instruments that are components of, or have characteristics similar to, the securities included in the Russell 1000 Value Index, and American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”), which are receipts typically issued by an American bank or trust company that evidence underlying securities issued by a foreign company.

The Fund invests primarily in equity securities that BFA believes are undervalued, which means that their prices are less than BFA believes they are worth. BFA places particular emphasis on companies with below average price/earnings ratios that may pay above average dividends. The Fund invests primarily in common stock of U.S. companies, but the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the securities of foreign companies and ADRs.