Goldman Sachs Announces Simplified Pricing Structure for ActiveBeta® ETFs

Goldman Sachs Announces Simplified Pricing Structure for ActiveBeta^® ETFs

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) today announced that it will implement changes to its fee and fee waiver arrangements for its ActiveBeta^® Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). Effective May 1, 2016, a unitary management fee structure, together with a reduction in the management fee rate, will be implemented for the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® ETFs in the table below. Under the unitary fee structure, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. (“GSAM”) will be responsible for paying substantially all the expenses of each Fund.¹ The total annual Fund operating expenses are as follows:

Additionally, the current expense limitation arrangement for the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Emerging Markets Equity ETF (Ticker: GEM) will be made permanent. Under this arrangement, the Fund’s expenses are capped, subject to certain exclusions, at 0.45%.² Effective May 1, 2016, GSAM may not terminate this arrangement without the approval of the Board of Trustees of the Goldman Sachs ETF Trust.

These moves, approved by the Board of Trustees of the Goldman Sachs ETF Trust, are intended to benefit current and future shareholders by reinforcing our effort to continue offering advanced investment solutions at a competitive price point.

GSAM entered the ETF space in September 2015 with the launch of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF (Ticker: GSLC) and since then, has launched a full suite of ActiveBeta^® ETFs that seek to track GSAM’s proprietary indices designed to offer the potential to outperform the market.

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GSAM is the asset management arm of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), which supervises $1.11 trillion in assets as of March 31, 2016³. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has been providing discretionary investment advisory services since 1988 and has investment professionals in all major financial centers around the world. The company offers investment strategies across a broad range of asset classes to institutional and individual clients globally. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals.

¹ Under the Management Agreement for each Fund except the ActiveBeta® Emerging Markets Equity ETF, GSAM is responsible for substantially all the expenses of the Funds, excluding payments under a Fund’s 12b-1 plan (if any), interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, brokerage fees, costs of holding shareholder meetings, litigation, indemnification and extraordinary expenses.

² Acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, interest, brokerage fees, costs of holding shareholder meetings, litigation, indemnification and extraordinary expenses are excluded from the expense limitation.

³ Assets Under Supervision (AUS) includes assets under management and other client assets for which Goldman Sachs does not have full discretion.

The expense ratios of each Fund (except GEM) do not have a fee waiver and expense limitation. The Net and Gross expense ratios for the Funds (except GEM) will be the same.

Ordinary brokerage commissions apply. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.

Effective April 8, 2016, the fund managers of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® ETFs are Raj Garigipati and Jamie McGregor. Please refer to the Prospectus for further information.

ActiveBeta^® is a registered trademark of GSAM and has been licensed for use by Goldman Sachs ETF Trust. The ActiveBeta^® Portfolio Construction and Maintenance Methodology is the patent-protected property of GSAM (U.S. Patent Numbers 8,285,620 and 8,473,398).

Fund Risk Considerations

Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Europe Equity ETF

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Europe Equity ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Europe Equity Index (the “Index”), which delivers exposure to equity securities of developed market issuers in Europe. The Fund’s equity investments are subject to market risk, which means that the value of the securities in which it invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies, particular sectors and/or general economic conditions. Foreign investments may be more volatile and less liquid than investments in U.S. securities and are subject to the risks of currency fluctuations and adverse economic or political developments. The Fund may invest heavily in investments in Europe and may be subject to greater losses than if it were less concentrated in Europe. Because the Fund may concentrate its investments in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the Index is concentrated, the Fund may be subject to greater risk of loss as a result of adverse economic, business or other developments affecting that industry or group of industries. The securities of mid- and small-capitalization companies involve greater risks than those associated with larger, more established companies and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements. The Fund is not actively managed, and therefore the Fund will not generally dispose of a security unless the security is removed from the Index. The Index calculation methodology may rely on information based on assumptions and estimates and neither the Fund nor its investment adviser can guarantee the accuracy of the methodology’s assessment of included issuers. Performance may vary substantially from the performance of the Index as a result of transaction costs, expenses and other factors.

Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Japan Equity ETF

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Japan Equity ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Japan Equity Index (the “Index”), which delivers exposure to equity securities of Japanese issuers. The Fund’s equity investments are subject to market risk, which means that the value of the securities in which it invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies, particular sectors and/or general economic conditions. Foreign investments may be more volatile and less liquid than investments in U.S. securities and are subject to the risks of currency fluctuations and adverse economic or political developments. Because of its exposure to Japan, the Fund is subject to greater risk of loss as a result of adverse securities markets, exchange rates and social, political, regulatory or economic events which may occur in Japan. Because the Fund may concentrate its investments in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the Index is concentrated, the Fund may be subject to greater risk of loss as a result of adverse economic, business or other developments affecting that industry or group of industries. The securities of mid- and small-capitalization companies involve greater risks than those associated with larger, more established companies and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements. The Fund is not actively managed, and therefore the Fund will not generally dispose of a security unless the security is removed from the Index. The Index calculation methodology may rely on information based on assumptions and estimates and neither the Fund nor its investment adviser can guarantee the accuracy of the methodology’s assessment of included issuers. Performance may vary substantially from the performance of the Index as a result of transaction costs, expenses and other factors.

Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® International Equity ETF

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® International Equity ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® International Equity Index (the “Index”), which delivers exposure to equity securities of developed markets issuers outside of the United States. The Fund’s equity investments are subject to market risk, which means that the value of the securities in which it invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies, particular sectors and/or general economic conditions. Foreign investments may be more volatile and less liquid than investments in U.S. securities and are subject to the risks of currency fluctuations and adverse economic or political developments. Because the Fund may concentrate its investments in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the Index is concentrated, the Fund may be subject to greater risk of loss as a result of adverse economic, business or other developments affecting that industry or group of industries. The securities of mid- and small-capitalization companies involve greater risks than those associated with larger, more established companies and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements. The Fund is not actively managed, and therefore the Fund will not generally dispose of a security unless the security is removed from the Index. The Index calculation methodology may rely on information based on assumptions and estimates and neither the Fund nor its investment adviser can guarantee the accuracy of the methodology’s assessment of included issuers. Performance may vary substantially from the performance of the Index as a result of transaction costs, expenses and other factors.

Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Emerging Markets Equity ETF

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Emerging Markets Equity ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Emerging Markets Equity Index (the “Index”), which delivers exposure to equity securities of emerging market issuers. The Fund’s equity investments are subject to market risk, which means that the value of the securities in which it invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies, particular sectors and/or general economic conditions. Foreign and emerging markets investments may be more volatile and less liquid than investments in U.S. securities and are subject to the risks of currency fluctuations and adverse economic or political developments. Because the Fund may concentrate its investments in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the Index is concentrated, the Fund may be subject to greater risk of loss as a result of adverse economic, business or other developments affecting that industry or group of industries. The securities of mid- and small-capitalization companies involve greater risks than those associated with larger, more established companies and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements. The Fund effects creation and redemption transactions partially for cash, which means an investment in the Fund may be less tax-efficient than an investment in a conventional exchange-traded fund. The Fund is not actively managed, and therefore the Fund will not generally dispose of a security unless the security is removed from the Index. The Index calculation methodology may rely on information based on assumptions and estimates and neither the Fund nor its investment adviser can guarantee the accuracy of the methodology’s assessment of included issuers. Performance may vary substantially from the performance of the Index as a result of transaction costs, expenses and other factors.

Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® U.S. Large Cap Equity Index (the “Index”), which delivers exposure to equity securities of large-capitalization U.S. issuers. The Fund’s equity investments are subject to market risk, which means that the value of the securities in which it invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual companies, particular sectors and/or general economic conditions. Because the Fund may concentrate its investments in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the Index is concentrated, the Fund may be subject to greater risk of loss as a result of adverse economic, business or other developments affecting that industry or group of industries. The Fund is not actively managed, and therefore the Fund will not generally dispose of a security unless the security is removed from the Index. The Index calculation methodology may rely on information based on assumptions and estimates and neither the Fund nor its investment adviser can guarantee the accuracy of the methodology’s assessment of included issuers. Performance may vary substantially from the performance of the Index as a result of transaction costs, expenses and other factors

Shares of each Fund are not individually redeemable and are issued and redeemed by the Fund at their net asset value (“NAV”) only in large, specified blocks of shares called creation units. Shares otherwise can be bought and sold only through exchange trading at market price (not NAV). Shares may trade at a premium or discount to their NAV in the secondary market. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.

Each Fund is recently or newly organized and has limited or no operating history.

Investors can lose money by investing in the Funds. For additional risk considerations, please see the above disclosures.

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Japan Equity Index is designed to deliver exposure to equity securities of Japanese issuers.

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Europe Equity Index is designed to deliver exposure to equity securities of developed markets issuers in Europe.

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® International Equity Index is designed to deliver exposure to equity securities of developed markets issuers outside the United States.

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® Emerging Markets Equity Index is designed to deliver exposure to equity securities of emerging market issuers.

The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta^® U.S. Large Cap Equity Index is designed to deliver exposure to equity securities of large capitalization U.S. issuers.

Each Index is constructed using the patented ActiveBeta® Portfolio Construction Methodology, which was developed to provide exposure to the “factors” (or characteristics) that are commonly tied to a stock’s outperformance relative to market returns. These factors include value (i.e., how attractively a stock is priced relative to its “fundamentals,” such as book value and free cash flow), momentum (i.e., whether a company’s share price is trending up or down), quality (i.e., profitability) and low volatility (i.e., a relatively low degree of fluctuation in a company’s share price over time). Given each Fund’s investment objective of attempting to track its respective Index, the Funds do not follow traditional methods of active investment management, which may involve buying and selling securities based upon analysis of economic and market factors.

The Indexes are trademarks of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. and have been licensed for use by Goldman Sachs ETF Trust.

GOLDMAN SACHS ASSET MANAGEMENT, L.P., THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP, INC., AND GOLDMAN, SACHS & CO. (COLLECTIVELY, “GOLDMAN SACHS”) DOES NOT GUARANTEE NOR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE OWNERS OR SHAREHOLDERS OF THE FUND OR ANY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC REGARDING THE ADVISABILITY OF INVESTING IN SECURITIES GENERALLY OR IN THE FUND PARTICULARLY OR THE ABILITY OF THE INDEX TO TRACK GENERAL MARKET PERFORMANCE. GOLDMAN SACHS, IN ITS CAPACITY AS THE INDEX PROVIDER OF THE INDEX, LICENSES CERTAIN TRADEMARKS AND TRADE NAMES TO THE FUND. GOLDMAN SACHS HAS NO OBLIGATION TO TAKE THE NEEDS OF THE FUND OR THE SHAREHOLDERS OF THE FUND INTO CONSIDERATION IN DETERMINING, COMPOSING OR CALCULATING THE INDEX. GOLDMAN SACHS OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES MAY HOLD LONG OR SHORT POSITIONS IN SECURITIES HELD BY THE FUND OR IN RELATED DERIVATIVES.

GOLDMAN SACHS DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ADEQUACY, TIMELINESS, ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEX OR ANY DATA RELATED THERETO. GOLDMAN SACHS HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR INTERRUPTIONS THEREIN OR IN THE CALCULATION THEREOF. GOLDMAN SACHS MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE WITH RESPECT TO THE MARKS, THE INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN AS TO THE RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE FUND, THE SHAREHOLDERS, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM USE OF THE INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, GOLDMAN SACHS HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS), EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Please note that one may not invest directly into an index.

Diversification does not protect an investor from market risk and does not ensure a profit.

ALPS Distributors, Inc. is the distributor of the Goldman Sachs ETFs.

ALPS Distributors, Inc. is unaffiliated with Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Please consider a Fund's objectives, risks, and charges and expenses, and read the summary prospectus, if available, and the Prospectus carefully before investing. A summary prospectus, if available, or a Prospectus for the Fund containing more information may be obtained from your authorized dealer or from Goldman, Sachs & Co. by calling (1-800-621-2550).

NOT FDIC INSURED. MAY LOSE VALUE. NO BANK GUARANTEE. NOT INSURED BY ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY.

Media:
Andrew Williams, 212-902-5400
Hillary Yaffe, 212-279-3115

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