Floating Rate Income Fund
Seeking High Income and Protection from Rising Rates
With an emphasis on investing in the highest-quality, floating-rate securities, the offers investors high levels of current income and a hedge against both rising rates and inflation.
The BlackRock Floating Rate Income Fund seeks to provide high current income, with a secondary objective of long-term capital appreciation. The strategy invests 80% of its assets in floating rate investments and investments that are the economic equivalent of floating rate investments.
Your Fixed Income Diversifier
Floating rate securities are comprised of senior, secured bank loans whose income resets periodically to reflect changes in prevailing interest rates. Unlike traditional fixed-income bonds, whose values are adversely affected by rising rates, floating rate bank loans maintain their value while increasing their income payments. And because interest rates generally rise with inflation, floating rate bank loans also have the benefit of serving as a hedge against inflation and providing important diversification benefits in investor portfolios. Although diversification cannot guarantee profit or protect against a loss, diversifying fixed income portfolios with floating rate bank loans can help weather market cycles.
History of Mitigating Risk
BlackRock has one of the largest and most experienced floating rate bank loan investment platforms in the industry. Composed of more than 30 investment professionals, we have a 22-year history investing in bank loans, managing through diverse market conditions including rising and falling interest rates. This expertise is evident in the attractive long-term risk-adjusted return of the BlackRock Floating Rate Income Fund.
Portfolio Management Team
The team is more than the sum of its parts. The team is led by Portfolio Managers Leland Hart, C. Adrian Marshall and James Keenan and is supported by more than 20 research, risk and sector analysts in New York, London and Singapore. The team constantly engages in analysis and questioning to understand each company, its ability to pay and the strength of its management team. Each and every day they try to discern where to find the most value — asking how to maximize return and minimize risk? That's not a once-a-week or once-a-month process; it's any everyday process.
Investor A: BFRAX
Investor C: BFRCX
Institutional: BFRIX
Important Risks of the Fund: The fund is actively managed and its characteristics will vary. Holdings shown should not be deemed as a recommendation to buy or sell securities. Corporate loan values fluctuate in price so your investment can go down depending on market conditions. Corporate loans may be illiquid, affecting the fund’s ability to realize net asset value in the event of a liquidation of assets. The fund may invest in non-US borrowers, which involves risks including fluctuation in foreign exchange rates, political and economic developments. Corporate loans in the fund’s portfolio typically are not rated or rated non-investment-grade (below Baa by Moody’s or BBB by Standard & Poor’s). These corporate loans generally involve greater risks to principal and income. The fund may use derivatives to hedge its investments or to seek to enhance returns. Derivatives entail risks relating to liquidity, leverage and credit that may reduce returns and increase volatility.
You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the fund carefully before investing. The Fund's prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund. The prospectus should be read carefully before investing.
Prepared by BlackRock Investments, LLC, member FINRA.
USR-2063