BlackRock : Expands Voting Choice Through New Egan-Jones Voting Guidelines and Customization

• Egan-Jones' Wealth-Focused and Standard proxy voting guidelines to be added to Voting Choice platform
• BlackRock will support institutional clients in separately managed accounts as they design and implement their custom proxy voting guidelines

New York - June 11, 2024 - BlackRock's commitment to providing our clients with choices to support their growing range of investment preferences is exemplified by our Voting Choice program.To meet client demand, BlackRock is taking additional steps to expand Voting Choice. BlackRock will add Egan-Jones as the third proxy advisor on its Voting Choice platform beginning in July 2024. BlackRock will also support interested institutional separately managed account (SMA) clients to facilitate their implementation of custom voting guidelines reflecting the client's investment goals and preferences.

Some of BlackRock's institutional clients utilize Egan-Jones for their proxy advisory services. For the start of the 2025 proxy voting season¹, in response to client interest, BlackRock will also add two proxy voting guidelines from Egan-Jones. The first is Egan-Jones' Wealth-Focused Policy, which seeks to "protect and enhance the wealth of investors" and "does not prioritize environmental or social goals." The second is Egan-Jones' most popular voting guidelines, the Standard Policy. For more than 20 years, Egan-Jones has provided retail, institutional and governmental investors with proxy voting coverage.

BlackRock has long supported clients who have their own custom voting policies in applying their guidelines to voting shares held in their respective BlackRock-managed accounts. More recently, we have supported a number of institutional clients who sought to design and implementcustom voting policies that reflected their organization's stated investment goals and objectives. BlackRock is now extending this option and will support additional institutional clients in eligible separately managed accounts as they design and implement their bespoke voting guidelines for the 2025 proxy year. Interested clients can contact their BlackRock relationship manager for more information.

"We continue to innovate and provide more choice to our clients who wish to take a more direct role in the proxy voting process," said Joud Abdel Majeid, Global Head of BlackRock Investment Stewardship. "We're pleased to add a third proxy advisor to our platform and the option for more clients to customize their voting guidelines to reflect their specific goals and objectives."

Since Voting Choice launched in 2022, clients who have entrusted BlackRock with nearly $600 billion in assets under management² have adopted the program. With the addition of two Egan-Jones guidelines, Voting Choice will give eligible clients more choice with up to 16 distinct voting guidelines across three proxy advisor services, plus BlackRock's benchmark policy. The majority of BlackRock's equity investment clients continue to entrust BlackRock's investment stewardship team with the important responsibility of voting in accordance with BlackRock's benchmark policy, consistent with BlackRock's fiduciary duty to them.

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¹ The "2025 proxy voting season" starts July 1, 2024.

² Source: BlackRock. Client funds participating in BlackRock Voting Choice are as of December 29, 2023. Assets include index equity assets held in multi-asset fund of funds strategies.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Similarly, the material does not constitute, and should not be relied on as, legal, regulatory, accounting, tax, investment, trading or other advice. Any financial, tax, or legal information contained herein is included for informational purposes only. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.