The Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes (if any), in the securities of the Cboe S&P 500 ESG BuyWrite Index (the "Underlying Index"). The Fund's 80% investment policy is non-fundamental and requires 60 days prior written notice to shareholders before it can be changed.
The Underlying Index seeks to provide long exposure to an equity portfolio that applies a set of specific Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) criteria as part of its security selection process, while also selling call options generally associated with such exposure. Specifically, the Underlying Index measures the performance of a covered call strategy, also known as a “buy-write” strategy, that seeks to provide long exposure by “buying” the underlying components of the S&P 500 ESG Index (the “Reference Index”) and to generate options premium income by “writing” (selling) a succession of one-month, at-the-money (“ATM”) covered call options on the Reference Index. In seeking to track the Underlying Index, the Fund invests in the securities reflected in the Underlying Index by purchasing the underlying holdings of the Reference Index in proportion to their weight in the Reference Index, and systematically writing (selling) a succession of one-month, ATM covered call options on the Reference Index. The implications of the written (sold) call options are described in more detail here:
Call Options – When the Fund sells a call option, the Fund receives a premium in exchange for an obligation to sell shares of the Reference Index at a strike price on the expiration date if the buyer of the call option exercises it. If the
Reference Index closes above the strike price as of the expiration date and the buyer exercises the call option, the investor will have to pay the difference between the value of the Reference Index and the strike price. If the Reference Index closes below the strike price as of the expiration date, the call option may end up worthless and the investor retains the premium. Generally speaking, an at-the-money (“ATM”) call option refers to an option where the strike price of the option is equal to the price of the underlying asset at the time when the option is written (sold). .
On a monthly basis, the Underlying Index’s portfolio will write (sell) a succession of one-month call options corresponding to the value of the underlying securities of the Reference Index and will cover such options by holding the component securities of the Reference Index. Each call option written in the Underlying Index’s portfolio will have an exercise price generally at the prevailing market price of the Reference Index. However, if call options with those precise strike prices are unavailable, the Underlying Index’s portfolio will instead select the call options with the strike price closest to but above the prevailing market price of the Reference Index. Each option position in the Underlying Index’s portfolio will (i) be traded on a national securities exchange; (ii) be held until expiration date; (iii) expire on its date of maturity; (iv) only be subject to exercise on its expiration date; and (v) be settled in cash.
The Reference Index is designed to measure the performance of securities meeting certain sustainability criteria (criteria related to Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) factors), while maintaining similar overall industry group weights as the S&P 500 Index, as determined by S&P (the “Index Provider”). The S&P 500 Index is a float adjusted market capitalization equity benchmark which is generally regarded as being representative of the large-cap segment of the U.S. stock market. A float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index weights each index component according to its market capitalization, using the number of shares that are readily available for purchase on the open market. The Reference Index is rebalanced annually.
The Reference Index is designed to measure the performance of securities meeting certain sustainability criteria (criteria related to ESG factors), while maintaining similar overall industry group weights as the S&P 500 Index. The Reference Index employs negative screens to exclude securities of companies with business activities that do not meet the eligibility criteria. Such screens rely on information from Sustainalytics, a globally-recognized independent provider of ESG research, ratings, and data. Companies’ business activities are distinguished between categories with absolute prohibitions (which do not allow any involvement by a company in a certain business activity) and categories that permit a de minimis amount of a certain business activity (generally, permitting a company to derive less than 5% of its revenues from, or to own less than 25% of another company that engages in, such activity). Examples of business activities with absolute prohibitions include, but are not limited to, arctic oil & gas exploration, cannabis production and controversial weapons, while examples of business activities with limited prohibitions include, but are not limited to, alcoholic beverages, gambling and nuclear power production.
In addition, the Reference Index excludes the following:
•Companies that are classified by Sustainalytics as being non-compliant with the United Nations Global Compact (“UNGC”) principles (“Non-Compliant UNGC Companies”). Non-Compliant UNGC Companies are (i) companies found to have been responsible for egregious and severe violations of commonly accepted international norms related to human rights, labor rights, the environment and business ethics, or (ii) companies deemed to facilitate third parties in human rights violations due to their involvement in certain weapons with disproportional and/or non-discriminatory impact on citizens and society;
•Companies that have an S&P Dow Jones Indices (“DJI”) ESG Score, as assigned by SAM, an ESG scoring business unit of S&P Global, Inc. (an affiliate of the Index Provider), that falls within the worst 25% of scores from each Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) industry group in the underlying universe of companies eligible for inclusion in the Index (the “Investment Universe”); or
•Companies that do not have (i) Sustainalytics coverage for determining tobacco-, controversial weapons-, oil sands-, small arms-, military weapons- and thermal coal-related involvement or compliance with UNGC principles; or (ii) an S&P DJI ESG Score.
S&P DJI ESG Scores are assigned by SAM using its Corporate Sustainability Assessment (“CSA”), which is an annual evaluation of a company’s sustainability practices. The CSA focuses on ESG factors that SAM determines are financially material to the company, relative to its industry peer companies as determined by SAM. The CSA is a questionnaire-based analysis process focused on ESG factors, with the aim of identifying the extent to which companies are equipped to recognize and respond to emerging sustainability opportunities and challenges in the global market. Companies are evaluated based on a range of financially relevant sustainability criteria, covering environmental, social, and governance dimensions. Companies’ responses to questions are assigned values, which are then aggregated into criteria, dimension, and total ESG scores, using an industry-specific weighting scheme. An interdisciplinary team of analysts designs, monitors, and refines the annual S&P
Global CSA, with the purpose of generating additional insights into companies’ value-creating and risk-mitigating ESG potential. The assessment centers on sustainability criteria that are financially relevant to corporate performance, valuation, and security selection.
After implementing the exclusion criteria described above, the remaining companies are then ranked based on their S&P DJI ESG Score. For each GICS industry group, companies are selected for inclusion in the Index primarily in decreasing order of S&P DJIESG Score until approximately 75% of the float adjusted market capitalization of the industry group is reached.
The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is an organization that is independent of, and unaffiliated with, the Fund and Global X Management Company LLC, the investment adviser for the Fund ("Adviser"). The Index Provider determines the relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes or designates a third-party index calculation agent to publish information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.
The Adviser 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 Underlying Index and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued. The call options sold by the Fund will be collateralized by the Fund's equity holdings at the time the Fund sells the options. By selling call options on the value of the portfolio of stocks in the Reference Index, the Fund's covered call strategy may generate income. If the price of the Reference Index is above the strike price of the Fund’s call options positions upon the expiration of the call option, then at expiration the Fund would owe the purchaser of the call option the difference between the strike price and the value of the Reference Index, so the amount owed with respect to the call option would offset any gains the Fund may experience from the securities held. For example, if the price of the Reference Index were to increase by 15% from the time the call options were sold to the time the call options expired, then the call options would be expected to have a value equal to approximately 15% of the value the portfolio had at the time when the call options were sold, which would offset all of the Fund’s gains from the increase in the Reference Index over the relevant period. However, if the price of the Reference Index is below the strike price of the Fund’s call options positions at expiry, the call options will expire worthless and the Fund will retain the premium. An investor that purchases Fund shares other than on the day that the Fund takes writes (sells) monthly call options, or who sells shares other than on the day that the call options expire, may experience different investment returns, depending on the relative difference between the strike price of the Fund’s call options positions, and the price of the Reference Index.
The Fund generally will use a replication strategy. A replication strategy is an indexing strategy that involves investing in the securities of the Underlying Index in approximately the same proportions as in the Underlying Index. However, the Fund may utilize a representative sampling strategy with respect to the Underlying Index when a replication strategy might be detrimental to shareholders, such as when there are practical difficulties or substantial costs involved in compiling a portfolio of equity securities to follow the Underlying Index, in instances in which a security in the Underlying Index becomes temporarily illiquid, unavailable or less liquid, or as a result of legal restrictions or limitations (such as tax diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not the Underlying Index.
The Adviser expects that, over time, the correlation between the Fund's performance and that of the Underlying Index, before fees and expenses, will exceed 95%. A correlation percentage of 100% would indicate perfect correlation. If the Fund uses a replication strategy, it can be expected to have greater correlation to the Underlying Index than if it uses a representative sampling strategy.
The Fund concentrates its investments (i.e., holds 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. As of December 31, 2023, the Underlying Index had significant exposure to the information technology sector. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified," which means it may invest a larger percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.