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QUANTUMONLINE.COM SECURITY DESCRIPTION: SPDR Portfolio MSCI Global Stock Market ETF, formerly SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI 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 Portfolio MSCI Global Stock Market ETF seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the MSCI ACWI IMI Index. INDEX DESCRIPTION: The MSCI ACWI IMI Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure the combined equity market performance of developed and emerging markets. The Index covers approximately 98% of the global equity markets. To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security and its issuing company must meet certain size and capitalization requirements. In particular: (i) a company must have a full market capitalization within the range of the top 99% of the developed market equity universe, based on free-float adjusted market capitalization (for emerging market companies, the required full market capitalization is set at one half the corresponding level for developed market companies); and (ii) a security must have a free-float adjusted market capitalization equal to or greater than 50% of the smallest company identified above. In addition, the following liquidity requirements must be met: (i) developed market securities must have a three-month and twelve-month Annualized Traded Value Ratio of at least 20% and a three-month frequency of trading of at least 90% (ATVR is a measure of a security’s trading volume divided by its float-adjusted market capitalization) and (ii) emerging market securities must have a three-month and twelve-month ATVR of at least 15% and a three-month frequency of trading of at least 80%. Mutual funds (other than business development companies in the United States), ETFs, equity derivatives, limited partnerships, and most investment trusts are not eligible for inclusion in the Index. The composition of the Index is fully reviewed on a quarterly basis. Countries covered in the Index have historically included, among others: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, U.S., Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey. As of December 31, 2011, the Index was comprised of 8,905 securities. FUND STRATEGY: In seeking to track the performance of the MSCI ACWI IMI Index, the Fund employs a sampling strategy, which means that the Fund is not required to purchase all of the securities represented in the Index. Instead, the Fund may purchase 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. Under normal market conditions, the Fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the Index or in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) or Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) based on securities comprising the Index. The Fund may invest in equity securities that are not included in the Index (including common stock, preferred stock, depositary receipts and shares of other investment companies), cash and cash equivalents or money market instruments, such as repurchase agreements and money market funds. The Fund may also enter into futures contracts and forward currency exchange contracts for hedging purposes. FUND MANAGEMENT: SSgA FM serves as the investment adviser to the Fund.
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