DELISTED - The Fund is a term fund that will terminate on or about March 31, 2016, at which time it will distribute its remaining net assets to shareholders. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Barclays 2016 Maturity High Quality Corporate Index (the “Underlying Index”), which is composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, taxable, investment-grade corporate bonds, scheduled to mature after March 31, 2015 and before April 1, 2016, and excludes financial issuers. Components primarily include consumer staples, industrials, technology and utilities companies. The components of the Underlying Index, and the degree to which the components represent certain industries, are likely to change over time. The Fund does not seek to return any predetermined amount at maturity or in periodic distributions. The Underlying Index includes U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade securities publicly issued by U.S. and non-U.S. corporate issuers that have $250 million or more of outstanding face value at the time of inclusion. The Fund’s investment in non-U.S. corporate issuers initially will consist primarily of corporate bonds issued by companies domiciled in developed countries. The Fund will invest in non-U.S. issuers to the extent necessary for it to track the Underlying Index. Each bond must be registered with the SEC, have been exempt from registration at issuance, or have been offered pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“1933 Act”) with registration rights. In addition, to be included in the Underlying Index, securities that are rated by all three of the rating agencies below must be rated “investment-grade” by at least two of the three agencies, defined as Baa3 or higher by Moody’s® Investors Service, Inc. or BBB- or higher by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services or Fitch Ratings, Inc. When ratings from only two of these agencies are available, the lower rating is used to determine eligibility. Securities with a rating from only one of the three ratings agencies must be rated investment-grade to be included in the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index is constructed with the following methodology. A parent index, the Barclays U.S. Corporate Index, representing U.S. dollar-denominated, taxable, investment-grade corporate bonds, is stripped of financial issuers, stripped of securities maturing outside of the maturity range as defined above, and divided into two subsets by rating. One subset contains Aaa - A3 rated bonds, and the other contains Baa1 - Baa3 rated bonds. Securities are then market-cap weighted within each subset, with a 3% cap on any one issuer, and a pro rata distribution of any excess weight across the remaining issuers in the subset. The two subsets are then combined in a proportion required to achieve an initial weighted average rating of approximately A2. The securities in the Underlying Index are updated on the last calendar day of each month until one year prior to March 31, 2016. During this final one-year period, the Underlying Index will no longer be updated or rebalanced, except to remove securities which are downgraded below investment-grade by any of the three ratings agencies. Additionally, during this period, existing bond weights will be allowed to float based on changes in market value, and the average weighted rating previously described will not apply. If bond ratings change during this time, weights will not be adjusted, which means that the average credit quality may change over time as bond ratings change and securities are added to and removed from the Underlying Index. During the final two years of the Underlying Index, bonds that had been screened out of the parent index due to being within one year of maturity will be added back into the Underlying Index until such issues reach maturity. When a bond that is included in the Underlying Index matures, its maturity value will be represented in the Underlying Index by cash throughout the remaining life of the Underlying Index. As the Fund approaches its termination date, its holdings of money market or similar funds may increase, causing the Fund to incur the fees and expenses of these funds. By March 31, 2016, the Underlying Index value will be represented almost entirely by cash as no securities will remain in the Underlying Index. The Fund is a series of the iShares iBonds® fixed maturity series of bond exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) sponsored by BlackRock, Inc. (“BlackRock”). The iBonds® fixed maturity series do not invest in U.S. savings bonds or other U.S. government bonds and are not designed to provide protection against inflation. BFA uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “beat” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued. Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by keeping portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies. BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of the Underlying Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Underlying Index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Underlying Index. The Fund generally will invest at least 90% of its assets in the component securities of the Underlying Index, except during the last months of the Fund’s operations, as described below, and may invest up to 10% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates (“BlackRock Cash Funds”), as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. From time to time when conditions warrant, however, the Fund may invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Underlying Index and may invest up to 20% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of BlackRock Cash Funds, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before the fees and expenses of the Fund. In the last months of operation, as the bonds held by the Fund mature, the proceeds will not be reinvested by the Fund in bonds but instead will be held in cash and cash equivalents. By March 31, 2016, the Underlying Index is expected to consist almost entirely of cash earned in this manner. Around the same time, the Fund will wind up and terminate, and its net assets will be distributed to then-current shareholders pursuant to a plan of liquidation. The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received). The Underlying Index is sponsored by Barclays Capital Inc. or its affiliates (the “Index Provider” or “Barclays”), which is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities), repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities, and securities of state or municipal governments and their political subdivisions are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.
