497 1 d497.htm BLACKROCK MONEY MARKET PORTFOLIO-WESTCORE FUNDS BlackRock Money Market Portfolio-WestCore Funds
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BlackRock Money Market Portfolio

 

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Prospectus

January 31, 2005

 

The Money Market Portfolio is a portfolio of BlackRock FundsSM managed by BlackRock Institutional Management Corporation and is available to Westcore Investors for investment and exchanges.

 

An investment in the Fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Although the Fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it is possible to lose money by investing in the fund.

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved the fund’s shares or determined if this prospectus is accurate or complete. It is a criminal offense to state otherwise.


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Supplemental Instructions

for Westcore Investors

 

The following supplemental instructions are provided for Westcore investors who wish to purchase or exchange shares of the Money Market Portfolio described in the attached prospectus through an account at Westcore Funds. Westcore investors owning shares in the Money Market Portfolio have full exchange privileges with the Westcore Funds as well as the additional convenience of checkwriting. With your money market account, you may, for example, write checks on or automatically add to your balance as well as exchange all or a portion of your balance into one or more of the Westcore Funds. The minimum dollar amount for checks written on a money market account is $250.  n

 


Purchases, Redemptions & Exchanges

 

Minimum Initial and Subsequent Purchases:

 

There is a $1,000 minimum initial investment if investors choose an automatic monthly investment option. Otherwise, the minimum initial investment is $2,500* ($1,000 for participants in Retirement, Education Savings and UGMA/UTMA Accounts). The minimum subsequent and automatic monthly investment for all accounts is $100.**

 

* Existing accounts and automatic investment plans established before October 1, 2000 are entitled to reduced investment minimums. $1,000 for existing regular accounts; $250 for existing retirement or UGMA/UTMA accounts; and existing automatic investments equivalent to $50 per month.
** The Westcore Automatic Investment Plan does not assure a profit and does not protect against a loss in a declining market.

 

Regular Transactions:

 

Purchases and redemptions by mail should be sent to Westcore Funds as follows:

 

Via Regular Mail:

 

Via Express/Overnight Mail:

Westcore Funds

 

Westcore Funds

P.O. Box 44323

 

1625 Broadway, Suite 2200

Denver, CO 80201

 

Denver, CO 80202

 

Please make checks payable to Westcore Funds. Purchases by check will be processed at the net asset value determination next occurring after your order is received and accepted by Westcore. Please note that cash, credit card checks, travelers checks, money orders, instant loan checks, third party checks, checks drawn on foreign banks or checks with inconsistencies between the name on the bank account and fund account registration will not be accepted for purchases. Westcore reserves the right to reject any purchase order. Signature guarantees may be required for certain transactions.

 

(Continued on inside back cover)

 

The above are supplemental transaction instructions and are not part of the prospectus.

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Introduction

 

This is the BlackRock Money Market Portfolio Prospectus. It has been written to provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision about whether to invest in BlackRock Funds (the Company). If necessary, please refer to the important definitions of frequently used terms below.

 

This prospectus contains information on the BlackRock Money Market fund.  n

 

Important Definitions

Asset-Backed Securities: Debt securities that are backed by a pool of assets, usually loans such as installment sale contracts or credit card receivables.

 

Commercial Paper: Short-term securities with maturities of 1 to 270 days which are issued by banks, corporations and others.

 

Dollar-Weighted Average Maturity: The average maturity of the fund is the average amount of time until the organizations that issued the debt securities in the fund’s portfolio must pay off the principal amount of the debt. “Dollar-weighted” means the larger the dollar value of debt security in the fund, the more weight it gets in calculating this average.

 

Liquidity: Liquidity is the ability to easily convert investments into cash without losing a significant amount of money in the process.

 

Net Asset Value (NAV): The value of everything the fund owns, minus everything it owes, divided by the number of shares held by investors.

 

Repurchase Agreement: A special type of short-term investment. A dealer sells securities to a fund and agrees to buy them back later at a set price. In effect, the dealer is borrowing the fund’s money for a short time, using the securities as collateral.

 

Variable or Floating Rate Securities: Securities whose interest rates adjust automatically after a certain period of time and/or whenever a predetermined standard interest rate changes.

 

Advisory Fees: Fees paid to the investment adviser for portfolio management services.

 

Other Expenses: Include administration, transfer agency, custody, professional fees and registration fees.

 

Service Fees: Fees that are paid to service organizations that provide personal services to shareholders.

 

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Introduction

(continued)

 

Service Organizations: Brokers, dealers, financial institutions and industry professionals that provide support services to their customers who own shares of the Company.

 

Adviser: The adviser of a mutual fund is responsible for the overall investment management of the fund. The adviser for BlackRock Funds is BlackRock Advisors, Inc.

 

Sub-Adviser: The sub-adviser of a fund is responsible for its day-to-day management and will generally make all buy and sell decisions. Sub-advisers also provide research and credit analysis. The sub-adviser for the fund is BlackRock Institutional Management Corporation.

 

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Table of Contents

Information

About

BlackRock

Money Market

Portfolio

 

BlackRock Money Market Portfolio

    4

Key Risks

  5

Expenses and Fees

  8

Financial Highlights

  9

 

 

 

About Your

Investment

 

Buying/Selling Shares

  10

The Company’s Rights

  18

Management

  18

Dividends and Distributions

  20

Taxation of Distributions

  20

 

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BlackRock Money Market Portfolio

 

Investment Goal

The fund seeks as high a level of current income as is consistent with maintaining liquidity and stability of principal.

 

Primary Investment Strategies

In pursuit of this goal, the fund invests in a broad range of short term, high quality, U.S. dollar-denominated instruments, including government, bank, commercial and other obligations.

 

Specifically, the fund may invest in:

1) U.S. dollar-denominated obligations issued or supported by the credit of U.S. or foreign banks or savings institutions with total assets of more than $1 billion (including obligations of foreign branches of such banks).

 

2) High quality commercial paper and other obligations issued or guaranteed by U.S. and foreign corporations and other issuers rated (at the time of purchase) A-2 or higher by Standard and Poor’s, Prime-2 or higher by Moody’s or F-2 or higher by Fitch, as well as high quality corporate bonds rated A or higher at the time of purchase by those rating agencies.

 

3) Unrated notes, paper and other instruments that are determined by the fund manager to be of comparable quality to the instruments described above.

 

4) Asset-backed securities (including interests in pools of assets such as mortgages, installment purchase obligations and credit card receivables).

 

5) Securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government or by its agencies or authorities.

 

6) Dollar-denominated securities issued or guaranteed by foreign governments or their political subdivisions, agencies or authorities.

 

7) Repurchase agreements relating to the above instruments.

 

The fund seeks to maintain a net asset value of $1.00 per share.

 

The securities purchased by the fund are subject to the quality, diversification and other requirements of Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act and other rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

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BlackRock Money Market Portfolio

 

Quality

The fund manager, under guidelines established by the Company’s Board of Trustees, will only purchase securities that have short-term debt ratings at the time of purchase in the two highest rating categories from at least two national rating agencies, or one such rating if the security is rated by only one agency. Securities that do not have a short-term rating must be determined by the fund manager to be of comparable quality.

 

Maturity

The fund is managed so that the dollar-weighted average maturity of all its investments will be 90 days or less. The fund will buy only those securities which have remaining maturities of 397 days or less (except for certain variable and floating rate instruments and securities collateralizing repurchase agreements). The fund’s securities may not earn as high a level of income as longer term or lower quality securities, which generally have greater risk and fluctuate more in value.

 

Normally, the fund may hold up to 20% of its assets in uninvested cash reserves. Uninvested cash will not earn income.

 

Should the Company’s Board of Trustees determine that the investment goal of the fund should be changed, shareholders will be given at least 30 days notice before any such change is made. However, such change can be effected without shareholder approval.

 

Key Risks

The value of money market investments tends to fall when prevailing interest rates rise, when an issuer’s creditworthiness declines or when the rate of inflation increases, although they’re generally less sensitive to such changes than longer-term securities.

 

The fund’s ability to concentrate its investments in the banking industry could increase risks. The profitability of banks, and therefore the credit quality of their securities, depends largely on the availability and cost of funds, which can change depending upon economic conditions and governmental policies. Banks are also exposed to losses if borrowers get into financial trouble and can’t repay their loans.

 

The obligations of foreign banks and other foreign issuers may involve certain risks in addition to those of domestic issuers, including higher transaction costs, less

 

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BlackRock Money Market Portfolio

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complete financial information, political and economic instability, less stringent regulatory requirements and less market liquidity.

 

Treasury obligations may differ in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Obligations of U.S. Government agencies and authorities are supported by varying degrees of credit but generally are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government. No assurance can be given that the U.S. Government will provide financial support to its agencies and authorities if it is not obligated by law to do so.

 

The fund is able to invest in securities issued by private companies, which subjects it to credit risk, which refers to the possibility that the issuer of a security will not be able to make principal or interest payments.

 

The fund could lose money if a seller under a repurchase agreement defaults or declares bankruptcy.

 

The fund may purchase variable and floating rate instruments. The absence of an active market for these securities could make it difficult for the fund to dispose of them if the issuer defaults.

 

Although the fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it is possible to lose money by investing in the fund. When you invest in this fund you are not making a bank deposit. Your investment is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or by any bank or governmental agency.

 

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BlackRock Money Market Portfolio

 

Risk/Return Information

The chart and table below give you a picture of the fund’s long-term perfor-mance for Service Shares. The information shows you how the fund’s performance has varied year by year and provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. As with all such investments, past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. If BlackRock and its affiliates had not waived or reimbursed certain fund expenses during these periods, the fund’s returns would have been lower.

 

As of 12/31

 

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS*

 

Best Quarter

Q3  ’00: 1.54%

 

Worst Quarter

Q2  ’04: 0.11%

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As of 12/31/04

 

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS*

 

     1 Year    3 Years    5 Years    10 Years   

Inception

Date1

Money Market
Return Before Taxes

   0.74%    0.88%    2.44%    3.76%    10/04/89
* The chart and the table both assume reinvestment of dividends and distributions.
1 Inception date of the fund’s oldest class(es).

 

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BlackRock Money Market Portfolio

(continued)

 

Expenses and Fees

As a shareholder you pay certain fees and expenses. Annual fund operating expenses are paid out of fund assets.

 

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold Service Shares of the fund. The table is based on expenses for the most recent fiscal year (restated to reflect current fees) and may not reflect expenses of the fund after February 1, 2006.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(Expenses that are deducted from fund assets)

 

Advisory fees

        .41%

Other expenses

        .54%

Service fees

   .25%     

Other

   .29%     

Total annual fund operating expenses

        .95%

Fee waivers and expense reimbursements*

        .23%

Net expenses*

        .72%
* BlackRock has contractually agreed to waive or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit Service class expenses to .72% of average daily net assets until February 1, 2006. The fund may have to repay some of these waivers and reimbursements to BlackRock in the following two years. See the “Management” section for a discussion of these waivers and reimbursements.

 

Example:

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. We are assuming an initial investment of $10,000, 5% total return each year with no changes in operating expenses and redemption at the end of each time period. Although your actual cost may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

     1 Year      3 Years      5 Years      10 Years

Service Shares

   $74      $280      $503      $1,145

 

 

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BlackRock Money Market Portfolio

 

Financial Highlights

The financial information in the table below shows the fund’s financial performance for the periods indicated. Certain information reflects results for a single fund share. The term “Total Return” indicates how much your investment would have increased or decreased during this period of time and assumes that you have reinvested all dividends and distributions. These figures have been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP (for the fiscal year ended 9/30/04) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (for the other fiscal years shown). The independent registered public accountant’s report, along with the fund’s financial statements, are included in the Company’s annual report, which is available upon request (see back cover for ordering instructions). Deloitte & Touche LLP has been appointed as the Company’s independent registered public accountant for the current fiscal year.

 

Financial Highlights

(For a Service Share Outstanding Throughout Each Period)

 

    Money Market Portfolio  
                               
   

Year

Ended
9/30/04

   

Year

Ended
9/30/03

   

Year

Ended
9/30/02

   

Year

Ended
9/30/01

   

Year

Ended
9/30/00

 

Net asset value at beginning of period

  $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00  
   


 


 


 


 


Income from investment operations

                                       

Net investment income

    0.0054       0.0073       0.0156       0.0466       0.0552  
   


 


 


 


 


Total from investment operations

    0.0054       0.0073       0.0156       0.0466       0.0552  
   


 


 


 


 


Less distributions

                                       

Distributions from net investment income

    (0.0054 )     (0.0073 )     (0.0156 )     (0.0466 )     (0.0552 )
   


 


 


 


 


Total distributions

    (0.0054 )     (0.0073 )     (0.0156 )     (0.0466 )     (0.0552 )
   


 


 


 


 


Net asset value at end of period

  $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00     $ 1.00  
   


 


 


 


 


Total return

    0.54 %     0.74 %     1.57 %     4.77 %     5.66 %

Ratios/Supplemental data

                                       

Net assets at end of period (in thousands)

  $ 374,441     $ 431,854     $ 567,574     $ 853,306     $ 629,769  

Ratios of expenses to average net assets

                                       

Net expenses

    0.71 %     0.72 %     0.72 %     0.72 %     0.72 %

Total expenses

    0.93 %     0.94 %     0.91 %     0.90 %     0.90 %

Ratios of net investment income to average net assets

                                       

After advisory/administration fee waivers

    0.54 %     0.74 %     1.60 %     4.66 %     5.49 %

Before advisory/administration fee waivers

    0.32 %     0.53 %     1.41 %     4.49 %     5.31 %

 

 

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About Your Investment

 

Buying Shares

Service Shares are offered without a sales charge to financial institutions (such as banks and brokerage firms) acting on behalf of their customers, certain persons who were shareholders of the Compass Capital Group of Funds at the time of its combination with The PNC® Fund in 1996 and investors that participate in the Capital Directions SM asset allocation program. Service Shares will normally be held by institutions or in the name of nominees of institutions on behalf of their customers. Service Shares are normally purchased through a customer’s account at an institution through procedures established by the institution. In these cases, confirmation of share purchases and redemptions will be sent to the institutions. A customer’s ownership of shares will be recorded by the institution and reflected in the account statements provided by the institutions to their customers. Investors wishing to purchase Service Shares should contact their institutions.

 

Purchase orders may be placed by calling BlackRock Funds at (800) 441-7762.

 

What Price Per Share Will You Pay?

A mutual fund is a pool of investors’ money that is used to purchase a portfolio of securities, which in turn is owned in common by the investors. Investors put money into a mutual fund by buying shares. If a mutual fund has a portfolio worth $5 million dollars and has 5 million shares outstanding, the net asset value (NAV) per share is $1.00. Although the fund seeks to maintain an NAV of $1.00 per share, there is no guarantee it will be able to do so.

 

The fund’s investments are valued based on the amortized cost method described in the SAI.

 

Service Shares are sold at the net asset value per share determined after an order is received by PFPC Inc. (PFPC), the Company’s transfer agent. You may place a purchase order for the fund by telephoning BlackRock Funds at (800) 441-7762 before 12:30 p.m. (Eastern time) on a day the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia are open (business day). If your order is received before 12:30 p.m. (Eastern time) on a day the NYSE and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia are open, it will be executed at 12:30 p.m. (Eastern time). If payment for an order is not received by 4 p.m. (Eastern time), the order will be cancelled. You will be informed if this should happen. No orders will be accepted after 12:30 p.m. (Eastern time).

 

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About Your Investment

 

NAV is calculated separately for each class of shares of the fund as of the close of business on the NYSE, generally 4 p.m. (Eastern time), each day the NYSE and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia are open. Shares will not be priced on days the NYSE or the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia are closed. The fund may elect, in its discretion if it is determined to be in shareholders’ best interest, to be open on days when the NYSE is closed due to an emergency.

 

Paying For Shares

Payment for Service Shares must normally be made in Federal funds or other funds immediately available to the Company’s custodian. Payment may also, at the discretion of the Company, be made in the form of securities that are permissible investments for the fund.

 

To help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, Federal law requires all financial institutions, including the Company, to obtain, verify and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. When opening an account, you will be asked for your name, address, date of birth and other information that will allow the Company to identify you. The Company may also ask to see other identifying documents such as a driver’s license (for individuals) or Articles of Incorporation or other formation documents (for institutions). The Company may use a third party to obtain and verify this information. The Company may not be able to establish an account if you do not provide the necessary information.

 

How Much is the Minimum Investment?

The minimum investment for the initial purchase of Service Shares is $5,000; however, institutions may set a higher minimum for their customers. There is no minimum requirement for later investments. The Company does not accept third party checks as payment for shares.

 

The Company may reject any purchase order, modify or waive the minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements and suspend and resume the sale of any share class of the fund at any time.

 

Distribution and Service Plan

The Company has adopted a plan (the Plan) that allows the Company to pay distribution fees for the sale of its shares under Rule 12b-1 of the Investment Company Act and shareholder servicing fees for certain services provided to its

 

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About Your Investment

(continued)

 

shareholders. The Company does not make distribution payments under the Plan with respect to Service Shares.

 

Under the Plan, the Company pays shareholder servicing fees to brokers, dealers, financial institutions and industry professionals (including BlackRock, PNC Bank and its affiliates) (Service Organizations) whereby the Service Organizations provide support services to their customers who own Service Shares in return for these fees. The Company may pay a shareholder servicing fee of up to .25% per year of the average daily net asset value of Service Shares of the fund. All Service Shares pay this shareholder servicing fee.

 

In return for the shareholder servicing fee, Service Organizations (including BlackRock) may provide one or more of the following services to their customers who own Service Shares:

 

  (1) Responding to customer questions on the services performed by the Service Organization and investments in Service Shares;

 

  (2) Assisting customers in choosing and changing dividend options, account designations and addresses; and

 

  (3) Providing other similar shareholder liaison services.

 

The shareholder servicing fees payable pursuant to the Plan are fees payable for the administration and servicing of shareholder accounts and not costs which are primarily intended to result in the sale of a fund’s shares.

 

Because the fees paid by the Company under the Plan are paid out of Company assets on an on-going basis, over time these fees will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than paying other types of sales charges.

 

The Plan permits BlackRock, the Company’s distributor and their affiliates to make payments relating to distribution and sales support activities out of their past profits or other sources available to them (and not as an additional charge to the fund). BlackRock, the distributor and their affiliates may pay affiliated and unaffiliated Service Organizations compensation for the sale and distribution of shares of the fund or for other services to the fund and shareholders. These payments (Additional Payments) would be in addition to the fund payments described in this Prospectus and may be a fixed dollar amount, may be based on the number of customer accounts maintained by the Service Organization, or may be based on a percentage

 

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About Your Investment

 

of the value of shares sold to, or held by, customers of the Service Organization. The aggregate amount of Additional Payments may be substantial. The Additional Payments include amounts that are sometimes referred to as “revenue sharing” payments. In some circumstances, these revenue sharing payments may create an incentive for a Service Organization, its employees or associated persons to recommend or sell shares of a fund to you. Please contact your Service Organization for details about Additional Payments it may receive. For more information on Additional Payments, see the SAI.

 

For more information on the Plan, including a complete list of services provided thereunder, see the SAI.

 

Selling Shares

Customers of institutions may redeem Service Shares in accordance with the procedures applicable to their accounts with the institutions. These procedures will vary according to the type of account and the institution involved and customers should consult their account managers in this regard. Institutions are responsible for transmitting redemption orders and crediting their customers’ accounts with redemption proceeds on a timely basis.

 

Institutions may place redemption orders by telephoning BlackRock Funds at (800) 441-7762. Shares are redeemed at the NAV per share next determined after receipt of the redemption order. See “Market Timing and Redemption/Exchange Fees” below. The Company, its administrators and the distributor will employ reasonable procedures to confirm that instructions communicated by telephone are genuine. The Company and its service providers will not be liable for any loss, liability, cost or expense for acting upon telephone instructions that are reasonably believed to be genuine in accordance with such procedures.

 

Payment for redeemed shares for which a redemption order is received before 12:30 p.m. (Eastern time) on a business day is normally made in Federal funds wired to the redeeming institution on the same business day, provided that the fund’s custodian is also open for business. Payment for redemption orders received between 12:30 p.m. (Eastern time) and 4 p.m. (Eastern time) or on a day when the fund’s custodian is closed is normally wired in Federal funds on the next business day following redemption on which the fund’s custodian is open for business. The Company reserves the right to wire redemption proceeds within seven days after receiving a redemption order if, in the judgement of the Company,

 

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About Your Investment

(continued)

 

an earlier payment could adversely affect the fund. No charge for wiring redemption payments is imposed by the Company, although institutions may charge their customer accounts for redemption services. Information relating to such redemption services and charges, if any, should be obtained by customers from their institutions.

 

Persons who were shareholders of the Compass Capital Group of Funds at the time of its combination with The PNC® Fund may redeem for cash some or all of their shares of the fund at any time by sending a written redemption request in proper form to BlackRock Funds, c/o PFPC, Inc., P.O. Box 9819, Providence, RI 02940. They may also redeem shares by telephone if they have signed up for the expedited redemption privilege.

 

During periods of substantial economic or market change, telephone redemptions may be difficult to complete. Redemption requests may also be mailed to BlackRock Funds, c/o PFPC, Inc., P.O. Box 9819, Providence, RI 02940.

 

The Company is not responsible for the efficiency of the Federal wire system or the shareholder’s firm or bank. The Company does not currently charge for wire transfers. The shareholder is responsible for any charges imposed by the shareholder’s bank. To change the name of the single, designated bank account to receive wire redemption proceeds, it is necessary to send a written request to BlackRock Funds, c/o PFPC, Inc., P.O. Box 9819, Providence, RI 02940.

 

The Company may refuse a telephone redemption request if it believes it is advisable to do so.

 

Persons who were shareholders of an investment portfolio of the Compass Capital Group of Funds at the time of the portfolio combination with The PNC® Fund may also purchase and redeem Service Shares of the same fund and for the same account in which they held shares on that date through the procedures described in this section.

 

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About Your Investment

 

Market Timing and Redemption/Exchange Fees

The Board of Trustees of the Company has determined that the interests of long-term shareholders and the Company’s ability to manage its investments may be adversely affected when shares are repeatedly bought, sold or exchanged in response to short-term market fluctuations—also known as “market timing.” The Company’s funds are not designed for market timing organizations or other entities using programmed or frequent purchases and sales or exchanges. The exchange privilege for Investor Shares is not intended as a vehicle for short-term trading. Excessive purchase and sale or exchange activity may interfere with portfolio management, increase expenses and taxes and may have an adverse effect on the performance of a fund and its shareholders. For example, large flows of cash into and out of a fund may require the management team to allocate a significant amount of assets to cash or other short-term investments or sell securities, rather than maintaining such assets in securities selected to achieve the fund’s investment goal. Frequent trading may cause a fund to sell securities at less favorable prices, and transaction costs, such as brokerage commissions, can reduce a fund’s performance.

 

A fund that invests in non-U.S. securities is subject to the risk that an investor may seek to take advantage of a delay between the change in value of the fund’s portfolio securities and the determination of the fund’s NAV as a result of different closing times of U.S. and non-U.S. markets by buying or selling fund shares at a price that does not reflect their true value. A similar risk exists for funds that invest in securities of small capitalization companies, securities of issuers located in emerging markets or high yield securities (junk bonds) that are thinly traded and therefore may have actual values that differ from their market prices. This short-term arbitrage activity can reduce the return received by long-term shareholders. The Company will seek to eliminate these opportunities by using fair value pricing.

 

The Company discourages market timing and seeks to prevent frequent purchases and sales or exchanges of fund shares that it determines may be detrimental to a fund or long-term shareholders. The Board of Trustees has approved the policies discussed below to seek to deter market timing activity. The Board has not adopted any specific numerical restrictions on purchases, sales and exchanges of fund shares because legitimate strategies, such as asset allocation, dollar cost averaging or similar activities, may result in frequent trading of fund shares. It is not expected that shareholders would be harmed by such legitimate activities.

 

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(continued)

 

If the Company believes, in its sole discretion, that your short-term trading is excessive or that you are engaging in market timing activity, it reserves the right to reject any specific purchase or exchange order. If the Company rejects your purchase or exchange order, you will not be able to execute that transaction, and the Company will not be responsible for any losses you therefore may suffer. In addition, any redemptions or exchanges that you make (as a result of the activity described above or otherwise) will be subject to any and all redemption/exchange fees, as described below. For transactions placed directly with the Company, the Company may consider the trading history of accounts under common ownership or control for the purpose of enforcing these policies. Transactions placed through the same financial intermediary on an omnibus basis may be deemed part of a group for the purpose of this policy and may be rejected in whole or in part by the Company. Certain accounts, such as omnibus accounts and accounts at financial intermediaries, however, include multiple investors and such accounts typically provide the Company with net purchase or redemption and exchange requests on any given day where purchases, redemptions and exchanges of shares are netted against one another and the identity of individual purchasers, redeemers and exchangers whose orders are aggregated are not known by the Company. While the Company monitors for market timing activity, the Company may be unable to identify such activities because the netting effect in omnibus accounts often makes it more difficult to locate and eliminate market timers from the funds. Identification of market timers may also be limited by operational systems and technical limitations. In the event that a financial intermediary is determined by the Company to be engaged in market timing or other improper trading activity, the Company’s distributor may terminate such financial intermediary’s agreement with the distributor, suspend such financial intermediary’s trading privileges or take other appropriate actions.

 

Each of the equity funds will automatically assess and retain a fee of 2% of the current NAV, after excluding the effect of any contingent deferred sales charges, of shares being redeemed or exchanged within 90 days of acquisition (other than those acquired through reinvestment of dividends or other distributions). Each of the High Yield Bond and International Bond Portfolios will automatically assess and retain a fee of 2% of the current NAV, after excluding the effect of any contingent deferred sales charges, of shares being redeemed or exchanged within 30 days of acquisition (other than those acquired through reinvestment of dividends or other

 

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distributions). A new 90-day period, or 30-day period, as the case may be, begins with each acquisition of shares through a purchase or exchange. For example, a series of transactions in which shares of Portfolio A are exchanged for shares of Portfolio B 20 days after the purchase of the Portfolio A shares, followed in 20 days by an exchange of the Portfolio B shares for shares of Portfolio C, will be subject to two redemption fees (one on each exchange).

 

The redemption/exchange fee is for the benefit of the remaining shareholders of a fund and is intended to encourage long-term investment, to compensate for transaction and other expenses caused by early redemptions and exchanges, and to facilitate portfolio management. The “first-in, first-out” method is used to determine the holding period. Under this method, the date of redemption or exchange will be compared with the earliest purchase date of shares held in the account. The Company sells shares to some 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, bank or trust company accounts, and accounts of certain financial institutions or intermediaries that do not apply the redemption/exchange fee to underlying shareholders, often because of administrative or systems limitations. From time to time, with the approval of the Company, the redemption/exchange fee will not be assessed on redemptions or exchanges by: (i) accounts of asset allocation programs or wrap programs whose trading practices are determined by the Company not to be detrimental to a fund or long-term shareholders (e.g., model driven programs with periodic automatic portfolio rebalancing that prohibit participant-directed trading and other programs with similar characteristics); (ii) accounts of shareholders who have died or become disabled; (iii) shareholders redeeming or exchanging shares through the Company’s Systematic Withdrawal Plan, Systematic Exchange Plan or in connection with required distributions from an IRA, 401(k) plan, 403(b) plan or any other Internal Revenue Code Section 401 qualified retirement plan or account; and (iv) certain other accounts in the absolute discretion of the Company when a shareholder can demonstrate hardship. In addition, former State Street Research fund shareholders will not be charged a redemption/exchange fee in connection with a one-time redemption or exchange of Company shares received in a reorganization of a State Street Research fund with one of the Company’s funds. However, additional Company shares purchased by such shareholders after the reorganization and any Company shares acquired through an exchange after the reorganization will be subject to the fee. The Company reserves the right to modify or eliminate these waivers at any time.

 

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The Company’s Rights

The Company may:

 

    Suspend the right of redemption if trading is halted or restricted on the NYSE or under other emergency conditions described in the Investment Company Act,

 

    Postpone date of payment upon redemption if trading is halted or restricted on the NYSE or under other emergency conditions described in the Investment Company Act or as described in the third paragraph of the section “Selling Shares” above,

 

    Redeem shares involuntarily in certain cases, such as when the value of a shareholder account falls below a specified level, as described below, and

 

    Redeem shares for property other than cash if conditions exist which make cash payments undesirable in accordance with its rights under the Investment Company Act.

 

Accounts With Low Balances

The Company may redeem a shareholder’s account in the fund at any time if the net asset value of the account in such fund falls below $5,000 as the result of a redemption or an exchange request. The shareholder will be notified in writing that the value of the account is less than the required amount and the shareholder will be allowed 30 days to make additional investments before the redemption is processed. If a customer has agreed with an institution to maintain a minimum balance in his or her account, and the balance in the account falls below the minimum, the customer may be obligated to redeem all or part of his or her shares in the fund to the extent necessary to maintain the minimum balance required.

 

Statements

Every shareholder automatically receives regular account statements. In addition, for tax purposes, shareholders also receive a yearly statement describing the characteristics of any dividends or other distributions received.

 

Management

BlackRock Funds’ adviser is BlackRock Advisors, Inc. (BlackRock). BlackRock was organized in 1994 to perform advisory services for investment companies and is located at 100 Bellevue Parkway, Wilmington, DE 19809. BlackRock is a

 

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wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., one of the largest publicly traded investment management firms in the United States with $341.8 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2004. BlackRock, Inc. is a majority-owned indirect subsidiary of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., one of the largest diversified financial services companies in the United States. BlackRock Institutional Management Corporation (BIMC), an affiliate of BlackRock located at 100 Bellevue Parkway, Wilmington, DE 19809, acts as sub-adviser to the Company.

 

For their investment advisory and sub-advisory services, BlackRock and BIMC are entitled to fees computed daily on a fund-by-fund basis and payable monthly. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004, the aggregate advisory fees paid by the fund to BlackRock as a percentage of average daily net assets was 0.21%.

 

The maximum annual advisory fees that can be paid to BlackRock on behalf of the fund (as a percentage of average daily net assets) are as follows:

 

AVERAGE DAILY NET ASSETS    INVESTMENT
ADVISORY FEE

First $1 billion

   .450%

$1 billion-$2 billion

   .400%

$2 billion-$3 billion

   .375%

more than $3 billion

   .350%

 

As discussed above, BlackRock has agreed contractually to cap net expenses (excluding interest expense, taxes, brokerage commissions and extraordinary expenses, if any) of each share class of the fund at the levels shown in the fund’s expense table.

 

To achieve this cap, BlackRock and the Company have entered into an expense limitation agreement. The agreement sets a limit on certain of the operating expenses of each class of shares and requires BlackRock to waive or reimburse fees or expenses if these operating expenses exceed that limit.

 

If within two years following receipt of a waiver or reimbursement, the operating expenses of the share class are less than the expense limit for that share class, the share class is required to repay BlackRock up to the amount of fees waived or expenses reimbursed under the agreement if: (1) the fund of which the share class is a part has more than $50 million in assets, (2) BlackRock or an affiliate serves as the fund’s investment adviser or administrator and (3) the Board of Trustees of the

 

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Company has approved in advance the payments to BlackRock at the previous quarterly meeting of the Board.

 

Dividends and Distributions

BlackRock Funds makes two kinds of distributions to shareholders: net income investment and net realized capital gains.

 

Distributions of net investment income derived by the fund are declared daily and paid monthly within ten business days after the end of the month. The Company’s

Board of Trustees may change the timing of dividend payments. Shareholders whose purchase orders are executed at 12:30 pm (Eastern time) receive dividends for that day. Shareholders whose redemption orders have been received by 12:30 pm (Eastern time) do not receive dividends for that day.

 

Net realized capital gains (including net short-term capital gains), if any, will be distributed by a fund at least annually at a date determined by the Company’s Board of Trustees.

 

Your distributions will be reinvested at net asset value in new shares of the same class of the fund unless you instruct PFPC Inc. in writing to pay them in cash. There are no sales charges on these investments.

 

If you invest in a fund shortly before it makes a capital gain distribution, some of your investment may be returned to you in the form of a taxable distribution. This is commonly known as “buying a dividend.” Distributions that are declared in December, but paid in January are taxable as if they were paid in December.

 

Taxation of Distributions

Distributions paid out of the fund’s “net capital gain” will be taxed to share- holders as long-term capital gain, regardless of how long a shareholder has owned shares. Distributions of net investment income and net short term capital gains will generally be taxed to shareholders as ordinary income.

 

Your annual tax statement from the Company will present in detail the tax status of your distributions for each year.

 

If you do not provide a fund with your proper taxpayer identification number and certain required certifications, you may be subject to backup withholding on any distributions of income, capital gains or proceeds from the sale of your shares. When withholding is required, the amount will be 28% of any distributions or

 

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proceeds paid. Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld may be credited against your U.S. federal income tax liability.

 

Non-U.S. investors may be subject to U.S. withholding and/or estate tax, and will be subject to special U.S. tax certification requirements. Because every investor has an individual tax situation, and also because the tax laws are subject to periodic changes, you should always consult your tax professional about Federal, state and local tax consequences of owning shares of the Company.

 

 

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Purchases, Redemptions & Exchanges    (Continued)

 

Wire, Telephone, and Exchange Procedures:

 

Wire purchases, telephone redemptions and exchanges will be processed at the net asset value determination next occurring after your order is received and accepted by Westcore. An order will not be accepted unless payment is received by Westcore in acceptable form and in sufficient time to reasonably allow for entry of the order before such determination. Purchases by wire may be accepted only for existing accounts. Investors redeeming by wire may be charged a wire fee by their financial institution. Wire redemption proceeds are generally transmitted by Westcore to Westcore investors on the next business day following the date of redemption. Exchanges into a Westcore fund will be processed at Westcore’s net asset value determination next occurring after the net asset value determination time when your money market fund account is processed. Exchanges into your money market fund account will be processed at the Money Market Portfolio’s net asset value determination next occurring after your Westcore account is processed. Please call 1-800-392-CORE (2673) for additional information and instructions regarding wire purchase, telephone redemption, and exchange procedures.

 

Automated Transactions:

 

You may place transactions or access your account automatically through the Westcore Trans@ction Center located at www.westcore.com or through the Westcore Automated Service Line at 1-800-392-CORE (2673).

 

Annual Small Balance Account Maintenance Fee:

 

Westcore Funds may deduct an annual maintenance fee of $12.00 from accounts serviced directly by Westcore Funds with a value less than $750. It is expected that accounts will be valued for the purpose of calculating this maintenance fee on the first Friday of December each year. The fee is designed to offset in part the relatively higher costs of servicing smaller accounts. This fee will not be deducted from accounts with an automatic investment plan or from accounts of shareholders who have a total of $10,000 or more invested directly with Westcore in multiple accounts (multiple accounts must have the same social security number to qualify).

 

Shareholder Reports:

 

Westcore Funds will deliver a single copy of the Money Market Portfolio’s financial reports and prospectuses to multiple investors with the same mailing address. Shareholders who desire individual copies of such reports or prospectuses should call 1-800-392-CORE (2673) or write to us at Westcore Funds, P.O. Box 44323, Denver, CO 80201.

 

Westcore Investor Service Representative:

 

For additional information on these or other options, please call a Westcore Investor Service Representative toll free at 1-800-392-CORE (2673), or visit the Westcore website at www.westcore.com.  n

 

This material must be accompanied or preceded by a prospectus.

Please read it carefully before investing or sending money.

 

 

The above are supplemental transaction instructions and are not part of the prospectus.

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1625 Broadway, Suite 2200

Denver, CO 80202

 

1-800-392-CORE (2673)

 

www.westcore.com

 

Westcore Funds are distributed by

ALPS Distributors, Inc.

 

Annual/Semi-Annual Reports for BlackRock Funds

These reports contain additional information about each of the funds’ investments. The annual report lists portfolio holdings, and includes the funds’ financial statements.

 

Statements of Additional Information (SAI)

A Statement of Additional Information, dated January 31, 2005, has been filed with the SEC. The SAI, which includes additional information about the BlackRock Funds, may be obtained free of charge, along with the Company’s annual and semi-annual reports, by calling (800) 441-7762. The SAI, as supplemented from time to time, is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus.

 

Portfolio Characteristics and Holdings

A description of the BlackRock Fund’s policies and procedures related to disclosure of portfolio characteristics and holdings is available in the SAI.

 

For information about portfolio holdings and characteristics, please call BlackRock Funds at (800) 882-0052.

 

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

You may also view and copy public information about the BlackRock Funds, including the SAI, by visiting the EDGAR database on the SEC Web site (http://www.sec.gov) or the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information about the operation of the public reference room can be obtained by calling the SEC directly at (202) 942-8090. Copies of this information can be obtained, for a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following E-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov, or by writing to the Public Reference Section of the SEC, Washington, D.C. 20549-0102.

 

INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT FILE NO. 811-05742

 

 

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