497K 1 d50348d497k.htm FORM 497K Form 497K

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Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

 

 

EXCHANGE (TICKER): NYSE ARCA, INC. (DFAI)

 

 

Summary Prospectus

November 16, 2020

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus and other information about the Portfolio, including the Statement of Additional Information (SAI) and most recent reports to shareholders, when available, online at https://us.dimensional.com/etfs. You can also get this information at no cost by calling collect to (512) 306-7400 or by sending an e-mail request to document_requests@dimensional.com. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and SAI, both dated November 10, 2020, as may be supplemented, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, paper copies of the Portfolio’s annual and semi-annual shareholder reports will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports from your financial intermediary. Instead, the reports will be made available on the Portfolio’s website, and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a website link to access the report.

If you already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications electronically from the Portfolio anytime by contacting the Portfolio’s transfer agent at (888) 576-1167 or by contacting your financial intermediary.

You may elect to receive all future shareholder reports in paper free of charge. You can inform the Portfolio that you wish to continue receiving paper copies of your shareholder reports by contacting your financial intermediary. Your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all funds held through your financial intermediary.


Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF (the “International Core ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the International Core ETF. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fee        0.18%  
Other Expenses        0.00%  
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses        0.18%  

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the International Core ETF with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

 

1 Year    3 Years
  $ 18      $ 58

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

The International Core ETF pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. Because the Portfolio is new, information about portfolio turnover rate is not yet available.

 

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Principal Investment Strategies

To achieve the International Core ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The International Core ETF is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of readily marketable securities of non-U.S. companies that is composed of companies within the International Universe that meet the Advisor’s investment criteria. The Advisor defines the “International Universe” as a market capitalization weighted set (e.g., the larger the company, the greater the proportion of the International Universe it represents) of non-U.S. companies associated with developed markets that have been designated as Approved Markets (as identified below) for investment by the Advisor. The Portfolio will invest in companies of all sizes, with increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies as compared to their representation in the International Universe. The Portfolio’s increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies relative to their weight in the International Universe. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price primarily because it has a low price in relation to their book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. In assessing profitability, the Advisor considers different ratios, such as that of earnings or profits from operations relative to book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the International Core ETF’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The Advisor will seek to set country weights based on the relative market capitalizations of eligible companies within each Approved Market. As of the date

 

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of this Prospectus, the International Core ETF can invest in the following countries that have been designated as Approved Markets by the Advisor: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The countries designated as Approved Markets will change from time to time. In addition, the countries in which the Portfolio actually holds investments will change from time to time. For additional information regarding the Portfolio’s Approved Markets, see the “Additional Information on Investment Objectives and Policies—Approved Markets” section of the Prospectus.

The International Core ETF may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for foreign or U.S. equity securities and indices, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

The International Core ETF may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The International Core ETF is an actively managed exchange traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the International Core ETF will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and the Portfolio that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The International Core ETF does not hedge foreign currency risk.

 

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Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition, the underlying issuers of certain depositary receipts, particularly unsponsored or unregistered depositary receipts, are under no obligation to distribute shareholder communications to the holders of such receipts, or to pass through to them any voting rights with respect to the deposited securities. Depositary receipts that are not sponsored by the issuer may be less liquid and there may be less readily available public information about the issuer.

Small and Mid-Cap Company Risk: Securities of small and mid-cap companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small or mid-cap company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small and mid-cap company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, small and mid-capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and following a value-oriented investment strategy may cause the Portfolio to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and following a profitability-oriented strategy may cause the Portfolio to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for Portfolio shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in the Portfolio’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Portfolio will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of the Portfolio and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of the Portfolio’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as futures, and options thereon, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When the International Core ETF uses derivatives, the Portfolio will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative

 

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instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, settlement, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and the Portfolio could lose more than the principal amount invested.

Securities Lending Risk: Securities lending involves the risk that the borrower may fail to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. As a result, the Portfolio may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The Portfolio could also lose money if it does not recover the securities and/or the value of the collateral falls, including the value of investments made with cash collateral. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Small Fund Risk: When the Portfolio’s size is small, the Portfolio may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Portfolio may face the risk of being delisted if the Portfolio does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside the Advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. The Portfolio and the Advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: The Portfolio’s and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the Portfolio to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the Portfolio and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Large Shareholder Risk: Certain shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the Advisor, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Portfolio’s shares. In addition, a third party investor, the Advisor, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Portfolio and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Portfolio or to facilitate the Portfolio achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Portfolio would be maintained at such levels or that the Portfolio would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Portfolio. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.

 

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Performance

Performance information is not available for the International Core ETF because it has not yet commenced operations. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained in the future by visiting https://us.dimensional.com/etfs.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the International Core ETF. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Portfolio. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 

   

Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2020).

 

   

Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2020).

 

   

Allen Pu, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2020).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The International Core ETF will issue (or redeem) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 100,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order.

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the International Core ETF are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged

 

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arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the International Core ETF through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

6300 Bee Cave Road, Building One

Austin, TX 78746

(512) 306-7400

 

RRD111620-DFAI

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