completions. The Index is constructed and maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. More information about the Index can be found using the Bloomberg ticker symbol “SPLSAUT.”
The Fund will generally not short any stocks directly but will generally obtain short exposure through derivatives.
Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in components of the Index or in instruments with similar economic characteristics.
The Fund will invest principally in the financial instruments listed below.
●Equity Securities — Common stock issued by public companies.
●Derivatives — Financial instruments whose value is derived from the value of an underlying asset or rate, such as stocks, bonds, ETFs, interest rates or indexes. The Fund invests in derivatives (e.g. swap agreements and futures contracts) as a substitute for investing directly in or making short sales of the securities of the Index, as well as for effecting currency hedging transactions. These derivatives principally include:
○Swap Agreements — Contracts entered into primarily with major global financial institutions for a specified period ranging from a day to more than one year. In a standard swap transaction, two parties agree to exchange or “swap” payments based on the change in value of an underlying asset or benchmark. For example, two parties may agree to exchange the return (or differentials in rates of returns) earned or realized on a particular investment or instrument.
○Forward Contracts — Two-party contracts where a purchase or sale of a specific quantity of a commodity, security, foreign currency or other financial instrument is entered into with dealers or financial institutions at a set price, with delivery and settlement at a specified future date. Forward contracts may also be structured for cash settlement, rather than physical delivery.
●Money Market Instruments — The Fund expects that any cash balances maintained in connection with its use of derivatives will typically be held in high quality, short-term money market instruments, for example:
○U.S. Treasury Bills — U.S. government securities that have initial maturities of one year or less, and are supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
○Repurchase Agreements — Contracts in which a seller of securities, usually U.S. government securities or other money market instruments, agrees to buy the securities back at a specified time and price.
○Money Market ETF — An exchange-traded money market fund managed by ProShare Advisors that holds U.S. Treasury bills, notes, or bonds.
ProShare Advisors uses a mathematical approach to investing in which it determines the type, quantity and mix of invest
ment positions that it believes, in combination, the Fund should hold to produce returns consistent with its investment objective. The Fund seeks to remain fully invested at all times in financial instruments that, in combination, provide exposure consistent with the investment objective, without regard to market conditions, trends or direction. The Fund may also invest in or gain exposure to only a representative sample of the securities in the Index or to securities not contained in the Index or in financial instruments, with the intent of obtaining exposure consistent with the investment objective.
Please see “Investment Objectives, Principal Investment Strategies and Related Risks” in the Fund’s Prospectus for additional details.
You could lose money by investing in the Fund.
●Risks Related to the Merger Arbitrage Strategy — There is no assurance that any of the Deals reflected in the Index will be successfully completed. In particular, in certain market conditions, it is possible that most or all of the Deals could fail. If any Deal reflected in the Index is not consummated, the Spread between the price offered for the Target and the price at which the shares of the Target trade is expected to widen. In such cases the price of the Target commonly falls back to pre-Deal announcement levels, typically resulting in significant losses well in excess of the post-announcement Spread the strategy attempts to capture. This could adversely affect the performance of the Index and the performance of the Fund. Deals may be terminated, renegotiated, or subject to a longer time frame than initially contemplated due to business, regulatory, or other concerns. Any of these events may negatively impact the performance of the Fund. The Index may also delete transactions under certain circumstances, thus precluding any potential future gains. Also, foreign companies involved in pending mergers or acquisitions may present risks distinct from comparable transactions completed solely within the U.S.
●Long/Short Risk — The Fund seeks long exposure to certain factors and short exposure to certain other factors. There is no guarantee that the returns on the Fund’s long or short positions will produce positive returns and the Fund could lose money if either or both the Fund’s long and short positions produce negative returns. Seeking short exposure may be considered an aggressive investment technique. Any income, dividends, or payments by the assets underlying the Fund’s short positions will negatively impact the Fund.
●Derivatives Risk — Investing in derivatives may be considered aggressive and may expose the Fund to greater risks including counterparty risk and correlation risk. The Fund may lose money if its derivatives do not perform as expected and may even lose money if they do perform as expected. Any costs associated with using derivatives will reduce the Fund’s return.
