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DIMENSIONAL ETF TRUST

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ticker:

 

Exchange:

 

Dimensional Global Core Plus Fixed Income ETF

 

DFGP

 

The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

 

Summary Prospectus
September 6, 2023

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/fund-documents. 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 September 6, 2023, as may be supplemented, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.


 

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional Global Core Plus Fixed Income ETF (the “Global Core Plus Fixed Income ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to seek to maximize total returns. Total return is comprised of income and 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 Global Core Plus Fixed Income 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

 

0.20%

 

Other Expenses*

 

0.05%

 

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

 

0.25%

 

Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement**

 

0.03%

 

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement

 

0.22%

 

 

*

 

The Portfolio is a new portfolio, so the “Other Expenses” shown are based on anticipated fees and expenses for the first full fiscal year.

 

**

 

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the Portfolio. The Fee Waiver and Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2025, and may only be terminated by the Portfolio’s Board of Trustees prior to that date. The Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Global Core Plus Fixed Income 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. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in

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the first year only. 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

$23

 

$77

 

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

The Global Core Plus Fixed Income 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.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Global Core Plus Fixed Income ETF seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing in a universe of U.S. and foreign fixed income securities. The Portfolio may invest in obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. and foreign governments, their agencies and instrumentalities, including mortgage-backed securities, corporate debt obligations, bank obligations, commercial paper, repurchase agreements, money market funds, securities of domestic or foreign issuers denominated in U.S. dollars but not trading in the United States, and obligations of supranational organizations. The Portfolio may purchase or sell mortgage-backed securities on a delayed delivery or forward commitment basis through the “to-be-announced” (TBA) market. At the present time, the Advisor expects that the Portfolio will primarily invest in the obligations of issuers that are in developed countries. However, in the future, the Advisor anticipates investing in issuers located in other countries as well, which may include emerging markets.

The Portfolio may invest in fixed income securities considered investment grade at the time of purchase (e.g., rated BBB- or above by S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”) or Fitch Ratings Ltd. (“Fitch”) or Baa3 or above by Moody’s Investor’s Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”)) and in lower-rated (i.e., below investment grade, also known as “junk” bonds) fixed income securities. The Portfolio may invest with an emphasis on fixed income securities rated in the lower half of the investment grade spectrum (e.g., rated BBB- to A+ by S&P or Fitch or Baa3 to A1 by Moody’s). The Portfolio will be managed with a view to capturing expected credit premiums and expected term premiums. The term “expected credit premium” means the expected incremental return on investment for holding obligations considered to have greater credit risk than direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury, and “expected term premium” means the expected relative return on investment for holding securities having longer-term maturities as compared to shorter-term maturities. In managing

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the Portfolio, the Advisor will increase or decrease investment exposure to intermediate-term securities depending on the expected term premium and also increase or decrease investment exposure to lower-rated debt securities depending on the expected credit premium.

The Portfolio primarily invests in securities that mature within twenty years from the date of settlement, but may, as in the case of mortgage-backed securities, invest in securities with longer maturities. Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will generally maintain a weighted average duration of no more than one half year greater than, and no less than one year below, the weighted average duration of the Portfolio’s benchmark, the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index (hedged to USD), which was approximately 6.77 years as of May 31, 2023. From time to time, the Portfolio may deviate from this duration range when the Advisor determines it to be appropriate under the circumstances. Duration is a measure of the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a security’s duration, the more sensitive it will be to changes in interest rates. The Portfolio is authorized to invest more than 25% of its total assets in U.S. Treasury bonds, bills and notes, and obligations of federal agencies and instrumentalities.

The Portfolio intends to invest its assets to gain exposure to at least three different countries, including the United States. Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 30% of its net assets in non-U.S. issuers. At launch, the Portfolio is anticipated to invest between approximately 35% and 65% of its net assets in U.S. issuers, which will change due to market conditions. An issuer may be considered to be of a country if it is organized under the laws of, maintains its principal place of business in, has at least 50% of its assets or derives at least 50% of its operating income in, or is a government, government agency, instrumentality or central bank of, that country. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in fixed income securities.

Because many of the Portfolio’s investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency forward contracts to attempt to protect against uncertainty in the level of future foreign currency rates, to hedge against fluctuations in currency exchange rates or to transfer balances from one currency to another. The Portfolio also may enter into credit default swaps on issuers or indices to buy or sell credit protection to hedge its credit exposure; gain market or issuer exposure without owning the underlying securities; or increase the Portfolio’s total return. The Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts, to hedge its interest rate or currency exposure or for non-hedging purposes, such as a substitute for direct investment or to increase or decrease market exposure, including adjustments based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

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The Portfolio 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 Global Core Plus Fixed Income 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.

Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, political, and issuer-specific events will cause the value of securities, and the Portfolio that owns them, to rise or fall.

Emerging Markets Risk: Numerous emerging market countries have a history of, and continue to experience serious, and potentially continuing, economic and political problems. Markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade in and generally have higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

China Investments Risk: There are special risks associated with investments in China and Taiwan, which are considered emerging market countries by the Portfolio. The Chinese government has implemented significant economic reforms in order to liberalize trade policy, promote foreign investment in the economy, reduce government control of the economy and develop market mechanisms. But there can be no assurance that these reforms will continue or that they will be effective. Despite reforms and privatizations of companies in certain sectors, the Chinese government still exercises substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector and may own or control many companies. The Chinese government continues to maintain a major role in economic policy making and investing in China involves risks of losses due to expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property, and the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested.

A reduction in spending on Chinese products and services or the institution of additional tariffs or other trade barriers, including as a result of heightened trade tensions between China and the United States may also have an adverse impact on the securities of Chinese issuers. Investments in Chinese issuers may also be subject to, among other risks, settlement, custody, regulatory, liquidity and

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operational risks, risks associated with beneficial ownership in the People’s Republic of China, trading restrictions and quota limitations, which could pose risks to the Portfolio. In addition, investments in Taiwan could be adversely affected by its political and economic relationship with China.

Income Risk: Income risk is the risk that falling interest rates will cause the Portfolio’s income to decline because, among other reasons, the proceeds from maturing short-term securities in its portfolio may be reinvested in lower-yielding securities.

Interest Rate Risk: Fixed income securities are subject to interest rate risk because the prices of fixed income securities tend to move in the opposite direction of interest rates. When interest rates rise, fixed income security prices fall. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Portfolio may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates. When interest rates fall, fixed income security prices rise. In general, fixed income securities with longer maturities are more sensitive to changes in interest rates.

High Yield Risk: Securities rated below investment grade may be subject to greater interest rate, credit and liquidity risks than investment grade securities. Fixed income securities that are below investment grade involve high credit risk and are considered speculative. Below investment grade fixed income securities may also fluctuate in value more than higher quality fixed income securities and, during periods of market volatility, may be more difficult to sell at the time and price the Portfolio desires.

Credit Risk: Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a security may be unable to make interest payments and/or repay principal when due. A downgrade to an issuer’s credit rating or a perceived change in an issuer’s financial strength may affect a security’s value, and thus, impact the Portfolio’s performance. Government agency obligations have different levels of credit support and, therefore, different degrees of credit risk. Securities issued by agencies and instrumentalities of the U.S. government that are supported by the full faith and credit of the United States, such as the Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae, present little credit risk. Other securities issued by agencies and instrumentalities sponsored by the U.S. government, that are supported only by the issuer’s right to borrow from the U.S. Treasury, subject to certain limitations, and securities issued by agencies and instrumentalities sponsored by the U.S. government that are sponsored by the credit of the issuing agencies, such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, are subject to a greater degree of credit risk. U.S. government agency securities issued or guaranteed by the credit of the agency may still involve a risk of nonpayment of principal and/or interest. Credit risk is greater for fixed income securities with ratings below investment grade (e.g., BB+ or below by S&P or Fitch or Ba1 or below by Moody’s). Fixed income securities that are below investment grade involve high credit risk and are considered speculative. Below investment grade fixed income securities may also fluctuate in value more than higher quality fixed

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income securities and, during periods of market volatility, may be more difficult to sell at the time and price the Portfolio desires.

Call Risk: Call risk is the risk that during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer will call or repay a higher-yielding fixed income security before its maturity date, forcing the Portfolio to reinvest in fixed income securities with lower interest rates than the original obligations.

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 Portfolio hedges foreign currency risk.

Foreign Government Debt Risk: The risk that: (a) the governmental entity that controls the repayment of government debt may not be willing or able to repay the principal and/or to pay the interest when it becomes due, due to factors such as political considerations, the relative size of the governmental entity’s debt position in relation to the economy, cash flow problems, insufficient foreign currency reserves, the failure to put in place economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund or other multilateral agencies, and/or other national economic factors; (b) governments may default on their debt securities, which may require holders of such securities to participate in debt rescheduling; and (c) there is no legal or bankruptcy process by which defaulted government debt may be collected in whole or in part.

Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk: Mortgage-backed securities represent interests in “pools” of mortgages and often involve risks that are different from or potentially more significant than risks associated with other types of debt instruments. Mortgage securities differ from typical debt securities in that principal is not paid back at maturity, but rather periodically over the life of the security. The Portfolio may receive unscheduled payments of principal due to voluntary prepayments, refinancings or foreclosures on the underlying mortgage loans. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of the Portfolio because it may have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates. As a result, mortgage securities may be less effective than some other types of debt securities as a means of securing long-term interest rates and may have less potential for capital appreciation during periods of falling interest rates. Conversely, in a period of rising interest rates, the Portfolio may exhibit additional volatility since rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of fixed rate mortgage-related securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As interest rates rise mortgage borrowers are less likely to exercise prepayment options, which may reduce the value of these securities and potentially cause the Portfolio to lose money. This is known as extension risk.

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Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures, and options thereon, and foreign currency forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. Derivatives can be used for hedging (attempting to reduce risk by offsetting one investment position with another) or non-hedging purposes. Hedging with derivatives may increase expenses, and there is no guarantee that a hedging strategy will work. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains or cause losses if the market moves in a manner different from that anticipated by the Portfolio or if the cost of the derivative outweighs the benefit of the hedge. In regard to currency hedging, it is generally not possible to precisely match the foreign currency exposure of such foreign currency forward contracts to the value of the securities involved due to fluctuations in the market values of such securities and cash flows into and out of the Portfolio between the date a foreign currency forward contract is entered into and the date it expires. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When the Portfolio uses derivatives, the Portfolio will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative 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. Additional risks are associated with the use of swaps including counterparty and credit risk (the risk that the other party to a swap agreement will not fulfill its contractual obligations, whether because of bankruptcy or other default) and liquidity risk (the possible lack of a secondary market for the swap agreement). Credit risk will increase when the Portfolio is the seller of swaps and counterparty risk will increase when the Portfolio is a buyer of swaps. In addition, where the Portfolio is the seller of swaps, it may be required to liquidate portfolio securities at inopportune times in order to meet payment obligations. Swaps may be illiquid or difficult to value.

Liquidity Risk: Liquidity risk exists when particular portfolio investments are difficult to purchase or sell. To the extent that the Portfolio holds illiquid investments, the Portfolio’s performance may be reduced due to an inability to sell the investments at opportune prices or times. Liquid portfolio investments may become illiquid or less liquid after purchase by the Portfolio due to low trading volume, adverse investor perceptions and/or other market developments. Liquidity risk includes the risk that the Portfolio will experience significant net redemptions at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss or at increased costs. Liquidity risk can be more pronounced in periods of market turmoil or in situations where ownership of shares of the Portfolio are concentrated in one or a few investors.

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

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value of the collateral falls, including the value of investments made with cash collateral. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for the Portfolio’s 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, which may widen bid-ask spreads. 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.

International Closed Market Trading Risk: To the extent that the underlying securities held by the Portfolio trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which the Portfolio shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

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 widen bid-ask spreads and 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.

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

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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.

Performance

Performance information is not available for the Global Core Plus Fixed Income ETF because it has not yet commenced operations. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained in the future by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Global Core Plus Fixed Income 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:

 

 

Joseph F. Kolerich, Head of Fixed Income, Americas, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2023).

 

 

David A. Plecha, Global Head of Fixed Income Portfolio Management, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President, and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2023).

 

 

Lovell D. Shao, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since inception (2023).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Global Core Plus Fixed Income ETF issues (or redeems) 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 50,000 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. However, the Portfolio also

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reserves the right to permit or require Creation Units to be issued (or redeemed) entirely or partially for cash.

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, 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. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Global Core Plus Fixed Income 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 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 Global Core Plus Fixed Income 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