The Fund employs a “passive management” — or indexing — investment approach designed to track the performance of the Underlying Index, which was developed by IndexIQ LLC (“IndexIQ”), an affiliate of IndexIQ Advisors LLC, the Fund’s investment advisor (the “Advisor”).

The Fund invests, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in the investments included in the Underlying Index (“Underlying Index Components”). The Underlying Index consists of a number of Underlying Index Components selected in accordance with IndexIQ’s rules-based methodology. Such Underlying Index Components will include primarily non-U.S. equity securities. In addition, the Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in investments not included in its Underlying Index, but which the Advisor believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. The Fund may also invest in one or more financial instruments, including but not limited to futures contracts and swap agreements (collectively, “Financial Instruments”).

The securities that are eligible for inclusion in the Underlying Index are common stock of non-U.S. companies headquartered in developed countries outside the U.S. All eligible securities must have a minimum of 52-week average daily trade volume of  $5 million and 100,000 shares as well as have commenced trading at least two (2) full quarters prior to the annual reconstitution. Additionally, eligible securities must have a minimum market capitalization of at least $1 billion and a minimum average market capitalization of  $1 billion at the time of the annual reconstitution. As of June 30, 2023, the market capitalization range of the companies included in the Underlying Index was $1.14 billion to $472 billion. As of June 30, 2023, the Underlying Index consisted of securities issued by companies domiciled in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

The Underlying Index Components are selected and weighted utilizing a rules-based methodology (“Methodology”) incorporating fundamental factors. The Methodology ranks the universe of eligible securities based on three fundamental factors: Sales (over annual period), Market Share (over annual period), and Operating Margin (3-year average). The Market Share and Operating Margin ranks are determined relative to other eligible securities within the same sector, while the Sales rank is determined relative to all securities within the eligible universe. A composite rank of the three factors is derived as an equal weighted average. The top 500 securities, based on the composite rank, are included in the Index. The weighting of each security within the Index is derived based on the relative value of each security’s composite score. The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced once a year. At time of the annual rebalance, no single component may have a weighting greater than 5% of the Index. In addition to the annual rebalance, on a quarterly basis the weight of any security that exceeds 10% of the Index is reduced to a maximum weight of 10% and the excess amounts are redistributed proportionately among the other Index components.

To the extent the Underlying Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Underlying Index. As of June 30, 2023, the primary sectors within the Underlying Index were consumer discretionary, consumer staples, and industrials.

The Underlying Index may include as a component one or more ETFs advised by the Advisor (“Affiliated ETFs”) and the Fund will typically invest in any Affiliated ETF included in the Underlying Index. The Fund also may invest in Affiliated ETFs that are not components of the index if such an investment will help the Fund track the Underlying Index.