Benefits of investing with Vanguard

Competitive long-term performance 

Vanguard's investment approach provides investors with an efficient way to capture long-term market performance.

Diversification

The Fund invests in a diversified portfolio of securities, which means the Fund is less exposed to the performance fluctuations of individual securities.

Low cost investing 

The Fund has low ongoing fees as we strive to minimise the costs of managing and operating the Fund.

Investor suitability

Buy and hold investors seeking long-term capital growth, some income, international diversification, and with a higher tolerance for the risks associated with share market volatility.

About the Fund

The ETF provides exposure to many of the world's largest companies listed in major developed and emerging countries outside the US. It offers low-cost access to a broadly diversified range of securities, industries and economies. The ETF is exposed to the fluctuating values of foreign currencies, as there will not be any hedging of foreign currencies to the Australian dollar.

What is an ETF?

An ETF is an Exchange Traded Fund, which is quoted for trading on the AQUA market of the ASX (in this case, it is the CDIs that are quoted for trading on the AQUA market of the ASX). Generally, these exchange traded funds comprise broadly diversified investment portfolios of either shares, bonds or real estate securities and are constructed using an indexed investment methodology.

ETFs seek to combine the best features of index managed funds and listed shares in one investment. Vanguard ETFs come with the benefits of low cost, broad diversification, transparency and tax efficiency due to low turnover of the underlying securities. However, unlike traditional index funds which are priced only once per day, ETF securities trade on a stock exchange so they can be bought and sold at any time during the trading day at prevailing market prices. ETFs carry certain risks (refer to the section 2. Risks' in the PDS for further details).

Who is Vanguard?

Vanguard Investments Australia Ltd (Vanguard) is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Vanguard Group, Inc. With more than AUD$6.9 trillion in assets under management as of 31 December 2018, including over AUD$1.2 trillion in ETFs; The Vanguard Group Inc is one of the world's largest global investment management companies. In Australia, Vanguard has been serving financial advisers, retail clients and institutional investors for more than 20 years.

How we invest your money

The Fund invests mainly in common stocks of companies located in developed and emerging markets around the world, excluding the United States. In seeking to track its index, the Fund invests in stocks that are predominantly large-cap and, to a lesser extent, mid- and small-cap. Historically, small- and mid-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than—and at times have performed quite differently from—large-cap stocks. The stock prices of small and mid-size companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, these companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.

Security Selection

The Fund attempts to track the investment performance of a benchmark index consisting of common stocks of companies located in developed and emerging markets around the world, excluding the United States. The companies in which the Fund invests will be within the capitalization range of the companies included in the FTSE All-World ex US Index ($60 million to $365 billion as of October 31, 2018). In the future, the Index's market capitalization range may be higher or lower, and the Fund's investments may track a different index. Such changes may occur at any time and without notice to Fund shareholders.

Indexing Strategy

The Fund attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the Index.

Depositary receipts

The Fund, in most cases, will obtain economic exposure to stocks of its target index (component securities) by investing directly in the component securities. However, the Fund reserves the right to obtain economic exposure to component securities indirectly by purchasing depositary receipts (also sold as participatory notes) of the component securities. Depositary receipts are securities that are listed on exchanges or quoted in over-the-counter markets in one country but represent shares of issuers domiciled in another country. Generally, the Fund will hold depositary receipts only when the advisor believes that the Fund would benefit from holding the depositary receipt, rather than the underlying component security. The Fund might opt to hold depositary receipts if the foreign market in which a stock trades does not provide adequate protection to the rights of foreign investors or if government regulators place restrictions on the free flow of capital or currency. The Fund treats depositary receipts that represent interests in component securities as component securities for purposes of any requirements related to the percentage of component securities held in the Fund's portfolio.