497K 1 d390733d497k.htm BR CIRCLE RESERVE FUND BR Circle Reserve Fund
LOGO    SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

 

 

 

Summary Prospectus

 

BlackRock FundsSM  |  Institutional Shares

 

 

Circle Reserve Fund

Institutional Shares: USDXX

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus (including amendments and supplements), reports to shareholders and other information about the Fund, including the Fund’s statement of additional information, online at http://www.blackrock.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling (800) 441-7450 or by sending an e-mail request to prospectus.request@blackrock.com, or from your financial professional. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated September 1, 2022, as amended and supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into (legally made a part of) this Summary Prospectus.

This Summary Prospectus contains information you should know before investing, including information about risks. Please read it before you invest and keep it for future reference.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this Summary Prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

Not FDIC Insured • May Lose Value • No Bank Guarantee


Summary Prospectus

 

 

 

Investment Objective

 

The investment objective of Circle Reserve Fund (the “Fund”), a series of BlackRock FundsSM (the “Trust”), is to seek current income as is consistent with liquidity and stability of principal.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell Institutional Shares of the Fund. More information about these fees and expenses is available in the “Details About the Share Class” section on page 10 of the Fund’s prospectus and in the “Purchase of Shares” section on page II-29 of Part II of the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

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

   Institutional
Shares

Management Fee

       0.15%

Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees

       None

Other Expenses1

       0.06%

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

       0.21%

Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements2

       (0.04)%  

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements2

       0.17%

 

1

Other Expenses are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

 

2

As described in the “Management of the Funds” section of the Fund’s prospectus beginning on page 14, BlackRock Advisors, LLC (“BlackRock”), the Fund’s investment manager, has contractually agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements (excluding Dividend Expense, Interest Expense, Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and certain other Fund expenses) as a percentage of average daily net assets to 0.17% through June 30, 2024. The agreement may be terminated upon 90 days’ notice by a majority of the non-interested trustees of the Trust or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.

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. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

        1 Year        3 Years  

Institutional Shares

     $ 17        $ 64  

Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund

 

Circle Reserve Fund invests at least 99.5% of its total assets in cash, U.S. Treasury bills, notes and other obligations issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. Treasury, and repurchase agreements secured by such obligations or cash. The Fund invests in securities maturing in 397 days or less (with certain exceptions) and the portfolio will have a dollar-weighted average maturity of 60 days or less and a dollar-weighted average life of 120 days or less. The Fund may invest in variable and floating rate instruments, and transact in securities on a when-issued, delayed delivery or forward commitment basis.

The securities purchased by the Fund are subject to the quality, diversification, and other requirements of Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), and other rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Fund will only purchase securities that present minimal credit risk as determined by BlackRock, the Fund’s investment manager, pursuant to guidelines approved by the Trust’s Board of Trustees.

 

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Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund

 

Risk is inherent in all investing. You could lose money by investing in the Fund. Although the Fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it cannot guarantee it will do so. An investment in the Fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The Fund’s sponsor has no legal obligation to provide financial support to the Fund, and you should not expect that the sponsor will provide financial support to the Fund at any time. The following is a summary description of principal risks of investing in the Fund. The relative significance of each factor may change over time and you should review each risk factor carefully.

 

 

Interest Rate Risk — Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of a debt security may fall when interest rates rise. In general, the market price of debt securities with longer maturities will go up or down more in response to changes in interest rates than the market price of shorter-term securities. Due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary during the period shareholders own shares of the Fund. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates due to the recent period of historically low interest rates. The Federal Reserve has recently begun to raise the federal funds rate as part of its efforts to address rising inflation. There is a risk that interest rates will continue to rise, which will likely drive down the prices of bonds and other fixed-income securities. Changing interest rates may have unpredictable effects on markets, may result in heightened market volatility and may detract from the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective.

 

 

Treasury Obligations Risk — Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary during the period shareholders own shares of the Fund.

 

 

Repurchase Agreements Risk — If the other party to a repurchase agreement defaults on its obligations under the agreement, the Fund may suffer delays and incur costs or lose money in exercising it rights under the agreement. If the seller fails to repurchase the security and the market value of the security declines, the Fund may lose money.

 

 

Shareholder Purchase/Redemption Risk — Shares of the Fund are held by Circle Internet Financial, LLC (“Circle”) as a portion of the reserves associated with Circle’s issuance of stablecoins to customers. The assets of the Fund are expected to fluctuate depending on the creation (mining) of additional stablecoins or the redemption (burning) of such coins. Stablecoins may face periods of uncertainty resulting in the potential for rapid requests by Circle for redemption of the Fund’s shares.

 

 

Credit Risk — Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer of a debt security (i.e., the borrower) will not be able to make payments of interest and principal when due. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer.

 

 

Income Risk — Income risk is the risk that the Fund’s yield will vary as short-term securities in its portfolio mature and the proceeds are reinvested in securities with different interest rates.

 

 

Large-Scale Redemption Risk — Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund’s liquidity and net assets. These redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities to meet redemption requests when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund. In addition, large redemptions can result in the Fund’s current expenses being allocated over a smaller asset base, which generally could result in an increase in the Fund’s expense ratio.

 

 

Market Risk and Selection Risk — Market risk is the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. The value of a security or other asset may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, exchange, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues like pandemics or epidemics, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments. Selection risk is the risk that the securities selected by Fund management will underperform the markets, the relevant indices or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies. This means you may lose money.

An outbreak of an infectious coronavirus (COVID-19) that was first detected in December 2019 developed into a global pandemic that has resulted in numerous disruptions in the market and has had significant economic impact leaving general concern and uncertainty. Although vaccines have been developed and approved for use by various governments, the duration of the pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty. Because the Fund invests in short-term instruments these events have caused some instruments to have declining yields, which may impair the results of the Fund if these conditions persisted. The impact of this coronavirus, and other epidemics and pandemics that may arise in the future, could affect the economies of many nations, individual companies and the market in general ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time.

 

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Stable Net Asset Value Risk — The Fund may not be able to maintain a stable net asset value (“NAV”) of $1.00 per share at all times. If the Fund fails to maintain a stable NAV (or if there is a perceived threat of such a failure), the Fund, along with other money market funds, could be subject to increased redemption activity.

 

 

Variable and Floating Rate Instrument Risk — Variable and floating rate securities provide for periodic adjustment in the interest rate paid on the securities. These securities may be subject to greater illiquidity risk than other fixed income securities, meaning the absence of an active market for these securities could make it difficult for the Fund to dispose of them at any given time.

 

 

When-Issued and Delayed Delivery Securities and Forward Commitments Risk — When-issued and delayed delivery securities and forward commitments involve the risk that the security the Fund buys will lose value prior to its delivery. There also is the risk that the security will not be issued or that the other party to the transaction will not meet its obligation. If this occurs, the Fund may lose both the investment opportunity for the assets it set aside to pay for the security and any gain in the security’s price.

Performance Information

 

Because the Fund has not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus, it does not have performance information an investor would find useful in evaluating the risks of investing in the Fund.

Investment Manager

 

The Fund’s investment manager is BlackRock Advisors, LLC (previously defined as “BlackRock”).

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

 

You may generally purchase or redeem shares of the Fund each day on which both the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia are open for business.

Shares are only available for purchase by Circle Internet Financial, LLC.

To purchase or sell shares of the Fund, purchase orders and redemption orders must be transmitted to the Fund’s office in Wilmington, Delaware by telephone (800-441-7450; in Delaware 302-797-2350), through the Fund’s internet-based order entry program, or by such other electronic means as the Fund agrees to in its sole discretion.

The Fund’s initial and subsequent investment minimums generally are as follows, although the Fund may reduce or waive the minimums in some cases.

 

     Institutional Shares
Minimum Initial Investment   $2 billion
Minimum Additional Investment   No subsequent minimum.

Tax Information

 

The Fund’s dividends and distributions may be subject to U.S. federal income taxes and may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.

 

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INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT FILE # 811-05742

SPRO-CRF-0822

 

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