FUND DESCRIPTION: SPDR Dow Jones International Real Estate ETF is an exchange-traded index fund or Index ETF which is a separate investment portfolio of the SPDR Index Shares Fund, an investment management company. INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE: The SPDR Dow Jones International Real Estate ETF seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones Global ex-U.S. Select Real Estate Securities Index. INDEX DESCRIPTION: The Dow Jones Global ex-U.S. Select Real Estate Securities Index is a float adjusted market capitalization index designed to measure the performance of publicly traded real estate securities in countries excluding the United States. The Index’s composition is reviewed quarterly. The Index is a measure of the types of global real estate securities that represent the ownership and operation of commercial or residential real estate. The Index includes equity REITs and real estate operating companies (REOCs) that meet the following criteria: (i) the company must be both an equity owner and operator of commercial and/or residential real estate; (ii) the company must have a minimum total market capitalization of at least $200 million at the time of its inclusion; (iii) at least 75% of the company’s total revenue must be derived from the ownership and operation of real estate assets; and (iv) the liquidity of the company’s stock must be commensurate with that of other institutionally held real estate securities. Countries covered in the Index have historically included, among others, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom. As of December 31, 2009, the Index was comprised of 130 securities. FUND STRATEGY: Under normal market conditions, the Fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 90%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the Index. In addition, the Fund may invest in securities that are not included in the Index, futures, options, swap contracts and other derivatives, cash and cash equivalents or money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds. The Fund uses a passive management, indexing investment approach, and sampling methodology designed to track the total return performance of the Index. The Fund does not intend to purchase all of the securities in the Index, but rather will utilize a sampling methodology in seeking the Fund's objective by purchasing a subset of the securities in the Index in an effort to hold a portfolio of securities with generally the same risk and return characteristics of the Index. The quantity of holdings in the Fund will be based on a number of factors, including asset size of the Fund. The Fund reserves the right to hold as many securities as it believes necessary to achieve the Fund's investment objective. FUND MANAGEMENT: SSgA FM serves as the investment adviser to the Fund, subject to the supervision of the Board, is responsible for the investment management of the Fund.
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