BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc.

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-CSR

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT

INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number: 811-21793

Name of Fund: BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc. (EGF)

Fund Address:    100 Bellevue Parkway, Wilmington, DE 19809

Name and address of agent for service: John M. Perlowski, Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc., 55 East 52nd Street, New York, NY 10055

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (800) 882-0052, Option 4

Date of fiscal year end: 12/31/2015

Date of reporting period: 12/31/2015


Item 1 – Report to Stockholders


DECEMBER 31, 2015

 

 

ANNUAL REPORT

 

    LOGO

 

BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc. (EGF)

 

Not FDIC Insured • May Lose Value • No Bank Guarantee


      

 

Section 19(a) Notice

BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc.’s (EGF) (the “Fund”) amounts and sources of distributions are estimates and are being provided to you pursuant to regulatory requirement and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund’s investment experience during the year and may be subject to changes based on the tax regulations. The Fund will provide a Form 1099-DIV each calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

 

December 31, 2015              
      Total Cumulative Distributions
for the Fiscal Year-to-Date
     % Breakdown of the Total Cumulative
Distributions for the Fiscal Year-to-Date
 
      Net Investment
Income
     Net Realized
Capital Gains
     Return of
Capital
     Total Per
Common
Share
     Net Investment
Income
     Net Realized
Capital Gains
     Return of
Capital
     Total Per
Common
Share
 

EGF

   $ 0.413648               $ 0.204352       $ 0.61800         67      0      33      100

The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than the amount of earned income and net realized gains; therefore, a portion of the distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the shareholder’s investment in the Fund is returned to the shareholder. A return of capital does not necessarily reflect the Fund’s investment performance and should not be confused with ‘yield’ or ‘income.’ When distributions exceed total return performance, the difference will reduce the Fund’s net asset value per share.

Section 19(a) notices for the Fund, as applicable, are available on the BlackRock website at http://www.blackrock.com.

 

Section 19(b) Disclosure

The Fund, acting pursuant to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) exemptive order and with the approval of the Fund’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), has adopted a plan, consistent with its investment objectives and policies to support a level distribution of income, capital gains and/or return of capital (the “Plan”). In accordance with the Plan, the Fund currently distributes $0.049 per share on a monthly basis.

The fixed amounts distributed per share are subject to change at the discretion of the Fund’s Board. Under its Plan, the Fund will distribute all available investment income to its shareholders, consistent with its primary investment objectives and as required by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). If sufficient investment income is not available on a monthly basis, the Fund will distribute long-term capital gains and/or return of capital to shareholders in order to maintain a level distribution. Each monthly distribution to shareholders is expected to be at the fixed amount established by the Board, except for extraordinary distributions and potential distribution rate increases or decreases to enable the Fund to comply with the distribution requirements imposed by the Code.

Shareholders should not draw any conclusions about the Fund’s investment performance from the amount of these distributions or from the terms of the Plan. The Fund’s total return performance on net asset value is presented in its financial highlights table.

The Board may amend, suspend or terminate the Fund’s Plan without prior notice if it deems such actions to be in the best interests of the Fund or its shareholders. The suspension or termination of the Plan could have the effect of creating a trading discount (if the Fund’s stock is trading at or above net asset value) or widening an existing trading discount. The Fund is subject to risks that could have an adverse impact on its ability to maintain a level distribution. Examples of potential risks include, but are not limited to, economic downturns impacting the markets, decreased market volatility, companies suspending or decreasing corporate dividend distributions and changes in the Code. Please refer to the Fund’s prospectus for a more complete description of its risks.

 

                
2    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Table of Contents     

 

     Page  

Section 19(a) Notice

    2   

Section 19(b) Disclosure

    2   

The Markets in Review

    4   

Annual Report:

 

Option Over-Writing

    5   

Fund Summary

    6   

The Benefits and Risks of Leveraging

    8   

Derivative Financial Instruments

    8   
Financial Statements:  

Schedule of Investments

    9   

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

    14   

Statement of Operations

    15   

Statements of Changes in Net Assets

    16   

Statement of Cash Flows

    17   

Financial Highlights

    18   

Notes to Financial Statements

    19   

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

    30   

Important Tax Information

    30   

Automatic Dividend Reinvestment Plan

    31   

Officers and Directors

    32   

Additional Information

    35   

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    3


The Markets in Review

 

Dear Shareholder,

Diverging monetary policies and shifting economic outlooks across regions have been the overarching themes driving financial markets over the past couple of years. With U.S. growth outpacing the global economic recovery in 2015 while inflationary pressures remained low, investors spent most of the year anticipating a short-term rate hike from the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”), which ultimately came to fruition in December. In contrast, the European Central Bank (“ECB”) and the Bank of Japan moved to a more accommodative stance during the year. In this environment, the U.S. dollar strengthened considerably, causing profit challenges for U.S. exporters and high levels of volatility in emerging market currencies and commodities. Oil prices were particularly volatile and below the historical norm due to an ongoing imbalance in global supply and demand.

Market volatility broadly increased in the middle of 2015, beginning with a sharp, but temporary, selloff in June as Greece’s long-brewing debt troubles came to an impasse. Just as these concerns abated, Chinese equities tumbled amid weakness in the country’s economy. This, combined with a depreciation of the yuan and declining confidence in China’s policymakers, stoked worries about the potential impact to the broader world economy, causing heightened volatility to spread throughout markets globally. Given a dearth of meaningful growth across most of the world, financial markets became more reliant on central bank policies to drive performance. In that vein, risk assets (such as equities and high yield bonds) rallied in October when China’s central bank provided more stimulus, the ECB hinted at further easing, and soft U.S. data pushed back expectations for a Fed rate hike. As the period came to a close, however, the ECB disappointed investors with its subdued policy changes. The Fed’s December rate hike had a positive impact on the markets as it removed a source of uncertainty, but this was counteracted by the dampening effect of a stronger U.S. dollar, falling oil prices and tighter credit conditions.

At BlackRock, we believe investors need to think globally, extend their scope across a broad array of asset classes and be prepared to move freely as market conditions change over time. We encourage you to talk with your financial advisor and visit blackrock.com for further insight about investing in today’s markets.

Sincerely,

 

LOGO

Rob Kapito

President, BlackRock Advisors, LLC

LOGO

Rob Kapito

President, BlackRock Advisors, LLC

 

Total Returns as of December 31, 2015  
    6-month     12-month  

U.S. large cap equities
(S&P 500® Index)

    0.15     1.38

U.S. small cap equities
(Russell 2000® Index)

    (8.75     (4.41

International equities
(MSCI Europe, Australasia,
Far East Index)

    (6.01     (0.81

Emerging market equities
(MSCI Emerging
Markets Index)

    (17.35     (14.92

3-month Treasury bills
(BofA Merrill Lynch 3-Month
U.S. Treasury Bill Index)

    0.04        0.05   

U.S. Treasury securities
(BofA Merrill Lynch 10-Year
U.S. Treasury Index)

    1.43        0.91   

U.S. investment-grade
bonds (Barclays
U.S. Aggregate Bond Index)

    0.65        0.55   

Tax-exempt municipal
bonds (S&P Municipal
Bond Index)

    3.31        3.32   

U.S. high yield bonds

(Barclays U.S.
Corporate High Yield 2%
Issuer Capped Index)

    (6.79     (4.43
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index performance is shown for illustrative purposes only. You cannot invest directly in an index.    

 

                
4    THIS PAGE NOT PART OF YOUR FUND REPORT      


Option Over-Writing     

 

In general, the goal of the Fund is to provide shareholders with current income and gains. The Fund seeks to pursue this goal primarily by investing in a portfolio of U.S. Government and U.S. Government Agency securities and utilizing an option over-writing strategy in an effort to enhance the Fund’s distribution rate and total return performance. However, these objectives cannot be achieved in all market conditions.

The Fund writes call options on individual U.S. Government and U.S. Government Agency securities or on baskets of such securities or on interest rate swaps (“swaptions”), and may write call options on other debt securities. When writing (selling) a call option, the Fund grants the counterparty the right to buy an underlying reference security or enter into a defined transaction (e.g., a swap contract, in the case of the swaption) at an agreed-upon price (“strike price”) within an agreed upon time period. The Fund receives cash premiums from the counterparties upon writing (selling) the option or swaption, which along with net investment income and net realized gains, if any, are generally available to support current or future distributions paid by the Fund. During the option term, the counterparty may elect to exercise the option if the market value of the underlying reference security or underlying contract rises above the strike price, and the Fund is obligated to sell the security or contract to the counterparty at the strike price, realizing a gain or loss. If the option remains unexercised upon its expiration, the Fund realizes gains equal to the premiums received.

Writing call options and swaptions entails certain risks, which include but are not limited to, the following: an increase in the value of the underlying security above the strike price can result in the exercise of a written option (sale by the Fund to the counterparty) when the Fund might not otherwise have sold the security; exercise of the option by the counterparty may result in a sale below the current market value and in a gain or loss realized by the Fund; writing call options and swaptions limits the potential appreciation on the underlying interest rate swap or security and the yield on the Fund could decline; if current market interest rates fall below the strike price, the counterparty could exercise a written swaption when the Fund might not otherwise have entered into an interest rate swap; the Fund is bound by the terms of the underlying interest rate swap agreement upon exercise of the option by the counterparty which can result in a loss to the Fund in excess of the premium received. As such, an option over-writing strategy may outperform the general fixed income market in rising or flat interest rate environments (when bond prices are steady or falling) but underperform in a falling interest rate environment (when bond prices are rising).

The Fund employs a plan to support a level distribution of income, capital gains and/or return of capital. The goal of the plan is to provide shareholders with consistent and predictable cash flows by setting distribution rates based on expected long-term returns of the Fund. Such distributions, under certain circumstances, may exceed the Fund’s total return performance. When total distributions exceed total return performance for the period, the difference reduces the Fund’s total assets and net asset value per share (“NAV”) and, therefore, could have the effect of increasing the Fund’s expense ratio and/or reducing the amount of assets the Fund has available for long-term investment. In order to make these distributions, the Fund may have to sell portfolio securities at less than opportune times.

The final tax characterization of distributions is determined after the fiscal year and is reported in the Fund’s annual report to shareholders. Distributions can be characterized as ordinary income, capital gains and/or return of capital. The Fund’s taxable net investment income or net realized capital gains (“taxable income”) may not be sufficient to support the level of distributions paid. To the extent that distributions exceed the Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits, the excess may be treated as a non-taxable return of capital. Distributions that exceed the Fund’s taxable income but do not exceed the Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits may be classified as ordinary income, which is taxable to shareholders.

A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund’s investment performance and should not be confused with ‘yield’ or ‘income.’ A return of capital is a return of a portion of an investor’s original investment. A return of capital is not taxable, but it reduces a shareholder’s tax basis in his or her shares, thus reducing any loss or increasing any gain on a subsequent disposition by the shareholder of his or her shares. It is possible that a substantial portion of the distributions paid during a calendar year may ultimately be classified as return of capital for income tax purposes when the final determination of the source and character of the distributions is made.

The Fund intends to write call options to varying degrees depending upon market conditions. Please refer to the Schedule of Investments and the Notes to Financial Statements for details of written swaptions.

 

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    5


Fund Summary as of December 31, 2015     

 

Fund Overview      

BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc.’s (EGF) (the “Fund”) investment objective is to provide shareholders with current income and gains. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing primarily in a portfolio of U.S. Government securities and U.S. Government Agency securities, including U.S. Government mortgage-backed securities that pay interest in an attempt to generate current income, and by employing a strategy of writing (selling) call options on individual or baskets of U.S. Government securities, U.S. Government Agency securities or other debt securities held by the Fund in an attempt to generate gains from option premiums.

No assurance can be given that the Fund’s investment objective will be achieved.

 

Performance and Portfolio Management Commentary      

 

Returns for the 12 months ended December 31, 2015 were as follows:

    Returns Based on  
     Market Price     NAV  

EGF1,2

    0.10     (0.18 )% 

BofA Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year US Treasury Index

    N/A        0.54

Citigroup Government/Mortgage Index

    N/A        1.10

 

  1   

All returns reflect reinvestment of dividends and/or distributions.

 

  2   

The Fund’s discount to NAV, which narrowed during the period, accounts for the difference between performance based on price and performance based on NAV.

 

      N/A — Not applicable as the index does not have a market price.

The following discussion relates to the Fund’s absolute performance based on NAV:

What factors influenced performance?

 

 

Performance is reviewed on an absolute basis due to the Fund’s unique strategy, which entails writing call options on individual or baskets of U.S. government securities or interest rates. The index returns listed above are for reference purposes only, as these indices do not reflect an option writing strategy.

 

 

The main detractors to the Fund’s performance were its allocations to U.S. Treasuries (including both duration and yield curve positioning) and investment-grade corporate bonds. Its use of derivatives also detracted from performance.

 

 

The Fund’s exposure to agency mortgage-backed securities, including 30-year and 15-year pass-throughs, contributed to performance. Its positions in agency interest-only securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”) also made positive contributions.

 

 

The Fund utilized interest rate swaps as a strategy against its long positions in U.S. Treasuries, as well as a means to manage duration, spread exposure and yield curve positioning. The use of swaps contributed slightly to performance during the period, as spreads on

   

10-year and 30-year swaps generally widened along with the rise in U.S. rates. Swaps continue to be an efficient interest rate management tool and should be viewed in the context of their overall contribution to risk reduction and performance.

Describe recent portfolio activity.

 

 

During the year, the investment advisor held the view that the U.S. economy would grow at a moderately strong pace and that interest rates would have an upward bias as the Fed began to normalize monetary policy. In light of this, the Fund reduced its use of leverage — which is less advantageous in a rising rate environment — while maintaining an overweight in agency mortgage-backed securities. The Fund tactically managed its yield curve positioning, favoring a flattening of the yield curve through an underweight at the short end of the curve. (A flattening yield curve indicates underperformance for short-term bonds.)

 

 

During the first half of 2015, the Fund purchased U.S. Treasury securities and wrote call options to generate incremental yield. During the second half, the Fund reduced its allocations to CMBS and asset-backed securities as it looked to trim its positions in non-government securities. The investment advisor reduced exposure to investment-grade corporate bonds on the margin. It also sought to avoid emerging market securities, as well as the energy and materials sectors.

Describe portfolio positioning at period end.

 

 

The Fund continued to write one-month swaptions (an option to enter into an interest-rate swap) as a way to manage duration and generate incremental yield. The Fund remained overweight in agency mortgage backed securities, CMBS, non-agency adjustable rate mortgages and collateralized mortgage obligations, and it held a small allocation to corporate bonds (both investment grade and high yield). The Fund was positioned with an underweight in U.S. Treasuries.

 

The views expressed reflect the opinions of BlackRock as of the date of this report and are subject to change based on changes in market, economic or other conditions. These views are not intended to be a forecast of future events and are no guarantee of future results.

 

                
6    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


      

 

 

Fund Information     

Symbol on New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”)

  EGF

Initial Offering Date

  October 31, 2005

Current Distribution Rate on Closing Market Price as of December 31, 2015 ($13.65)1

  4.31%

Current Monthly Distribution per Common Share2

  $0.049

Current Annualized Distribution per Common Share2

  $0.588

Economic Leverage as of December 31, 20153

  23%

 

  1   

Current Distribution Rate on closing market price is calculated by dividing the current annualized distribution per share by the closing market price. The current distribution rate consists of income, net realized gains and/or a return of capital. See the Section 19(a) Notice on page 2 for the estimated actual sources and character of distributions. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

 

  2  

The distribution rate is not constant and is subject to change. A portion of the distribution may be deemed a return of capital or net realized gain.

 

  3   

Represents reverse repurchase agreements as a percentage of total managed assets, which is the total assets of the Fund, including any assets attributable to reverse repurchase agreements, minus the sum of liabilities (other than borrowings representing financial leverage). For a discussion of leveraging techniques utilized by the Fund, please see The Benefits and Risks of Leveraging on page 8.

 

Market Price and Net Asset Value Per Share Summary

 

      12/31/15      12/31/14      Change      High      Low  

Market Price

   $ 13.65       $ 14.26         (4.28 )%     $ 14.34       $ 13.09   

Net Asset Value

   $ 14.29       $ 14.97         (4.54 )%     $ 15.01       $ 14.28   

 

Market Price and Net Asset Value History For the Past Five Years

 

LOGO

 

Overview of the Fund’s Total Investments

 

Portfolio Composition   12/31/15     12/31/141  

U.S. Government Sponsored Agency Securities

    62     55

U.S. Treasury Obligations

    33        41   

Short-Term Securities

    5        1   

Preferred Securities

    3        2   

Asset-Backed Securities

    2        2   

Non-Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities

    1        1   

Corporate Bonds

           1   

TBA Sale Commitments

    (6     (3

Other2

             

 

  1   

Information has been revised to conform to current year presentation.

 

  2   

Includes a less than 1% holding in options written.

Credit Quality Allocation3,4   12/31/15     12/31/141  

AAA/Aaa5

    96     94

BBB/Baa

    2        2   

BB/Ba

    2        4   

 

  3   

For financial reporting purposes, credit quality ratings shown above reflect the highest rating assigned by either Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) or Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) if ratings differ. These rating agencies are independent, nationally recognized statistical rating organizations and are widely used. Investment grade ratings are credit ratings of BBB/Baa or higher. Below investment grade ratings are credit ratings of BB/Ba or lower. Investments designated N/R are not rated by either rating agency. Unrated investments do not necessarily indicate low credit quality. Credit quality ratings are subject to change.

 

  4   

Excludes short-term securities, preferred securities and options written.

 

  5   

The investment advisor evaluates the credit quality of not-rated investments based upon certain factors including, but not limited to, credit ratings for similar investments and financial analysis of sectors, individual investments and/or issuer. Using this approach, the investment advisor has deemed U.S. Government Sponsored Agency Securities and U.S. Treasury Obligations as AAA/Aaa.

 

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    7


The Benefits and Risks of Leveraging     

 

The Fund may utilize leverage to seek to enhance the distribution rate on, and NAV of, its common shares (“Common Shares”). However, these objectives cannot be achieved in all interest rate environments.

In general, the concept of leveraging is based on the premise that the financing cost of leverage, which is based on short-term interest rates, is normally lower than the income earned by the Fund on its longer-term portfolio investments purchased with the proceeds from leverage. To the extent that the total assets of the Fund (including the assets obtained from leverage) are invested in higher-yielding portfolio investments, the Fund’s shareholders benefit from the incremental net income. The interest earned on securities purchased with the proceeds from leverage is paid to shareholders in the form of dividends, and the value of these portfolio holdings is reflected in the per share NAV.

To illustrate these concepts, assume the Fund’s capitalization is $100 million and it utilizes leverage for an additional $30 million, creating a total value of $130 million available for investment in longer-term income securities. If prevailing short-term interest rates are 3% and longer-term interest rates are 6%, the yield curve has a strongly positive slope. In this case, the Fund’s financing costs on the $30 million of proceeds obtained from leverage are based on the lower short-term interest rates. At the same time, the securities purchased by the Fund with the proceeds from leverage earn income based on longer-term interest rates. In this case, the Fund’s financing cost of leverage is significantly lower than the income earned on the Fund’s longer-term investments acquired from such leverage proceeds, and therefore the holders of Common Shares (“Common Shareholders”) are the beneficiaries of the incremental net income.

However, in order to benefit shareholders, the return on assets purchased with leverage proceeds must exceed the ongoing costs associated with the leverage. If interest and other costs of leverage exceed the Fund’s return on assets purchased with leverage proceeds, income to shareholders is lower than if the Fund had not used leverage. Furthermore, the value of the Fund’s portfolio investments generally varies inversely with the direction of long-term interest rates, although other

factors can influence the value of portfolio investments. In contrast, the value of the Fund’s obligations under its leverage arrangement generally does not fluctuate in relation to interest rates. As a result, changes in interest rates can influence the Fund’s NAV positively or negatively. Changes in the future direction of interest rates are very difficult to predict accurately, and there is no assurance that the Fund’s intended leveraging strategy will be successful.

Leverage also generally causes greater changes in the Fund’s NAV, market price and dividend rate than comparable portfolios without leverage. In a declining market, leverage is likely to cause a greater decline in the net asset value and market price of a Fund’s shares than if the Fund were not leveraged. In addition, the Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities at inopportune times or at distressed values in order to comply with regulatory requirements applicable to the use of leverage or as required by the terms of leverage instruments, which may cause the Fund to incur losses. The use of leverage may limit the Fund’s ability to invest in certain types of securities or use certain types of hedging strategies. The Fund incurs expenses in connection with the use of leverage, all of which are borne by shareholders and may reduce income to the shareholders. Moreover, to the extent the calculation of the Fund’s investment advisory fees includes assets purchased with the proceeds of leverage, the investment advisory fees payable to the Fund’s investment advisor will be higher than if the Fund did not use leverage.

The Fund may utilize leverage through reverse repurchase agreements as described in the Notes to Financial Statements.

Under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), the Fund is permitted to issue debt up to 33 1/3% of its total managed assets. The Fund may voluntarily elect to limit its leverage to less than the maximum amount permitted under the 1940 Act.

If the Fund segregates or designates on its books and records cash or liquid assets having values not less than the value of the Fund’s obligations under the reverse repurchase agreement (including accrued interest), then such transaction is not considered a senior security and is not subject to the foregoing limitations and requirements under the 1940 Act.

 

 

Derivative Financial Instruments     

 

The Fund may invest in various derivative financial instruments. Derivative financial instruments are used to obtain exposure to a security, index and/or market without owning or taking physical custody of securities or to manage market, equity, credit, interest rate, foreign currency exchange rate, commodity and/or other risks. Derivative financial instruments may give rise to a form of economic leverage. Derivative financial instruments also involve risks, including the imperfect correlation between the value of a derivative financial instrument and the underlying asset, possible default of the counterparty to

the transaction or illiquidity of the derivative financial instrument. The Fund’s ability to use a derivative financial instrument successfully depends on the investment advisor’s ability to predict pertinent market movements accurately, which cannot be assured. The use of derivative financial instruments may result in losses greater than if they had not been used, may limit the amount of appreciation the Fund can realize on an investment and/or may result in lower distributions paid to shareholders. The Fund’s investments in these instruments, if any, are discussed in detail in the Notes to Financial Statements.

 

 

                
8    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Schedule of Investments December 31, 2015

  

(Percentages shown are based on Net Assets)

 

Asset-Backed Securities   

Par  

(000)

    Value  

Securitized Asset Backed Receivables LLC Trust (a):

    

Series 2005-OP1, Class M2, 1.10%, 1/25/35

   $ 1,149      $ 1,052,793   

Series 2005-OP2, Class M1,
0.85%, 10/25/35

     1,025        928,440   
Total Asset-Backed Securities — 1.9%              1,981,233   
    
                  
Non-Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities  

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations — 1.1%

  

 

Bank of America Mortgage Securities, Inc.,
Series 2003-J, Class 2A1, 3.05%, 11/25/33 (a)

     124        123,724   

Bear Stearns Alt-A Trust, Series 2004-13, Class A1,
1.16%, 11/25/34 (a)

     174        171,578   

Homebanc Mortgage Trust, Series 2005-4, Class A1,
0.69%, 10/25/35 (a)

     973        898,524   
    

 

 

 
               1,193,826   

Interest Only Collateralized Mortgage Obligations — 0.1%

  

 

CitiMortgage Alternative Loan Trust, Series 2007-A5,
Class 1A7, 6.00%, 5/25/37

     259        69,486   
Total Non-Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities — 1.2%        1,263,312   
    
                  
Preferred Securities  
Capital Trusts  

Diversified Financial Services — 0.5%

    

ZFS Finance (USA) Trust V, 6.50%, 5/09/37 (a)(b)

     504        514,080   

Electric Utilities — 1.5%

    

PPL Capital Funding, Inc., 6.70%, 3/30/67 (a)

     2,000        1,545,000   
Total Capital Trusts — 2.0%              2,059,080   
    
                  
Trust Preferreds — 1.9%    Shares         

Capital Markets — 1.9%

    

Morgan Stanley Capital Trust VIII, 6.45%, 4/15/67

     80,000        1,996,492   
Total Preferred Securities — 3.9%              4,055,572   
    
                  
U.S. Government Sponsored Agency Securities   

Par  

(000)

        

Agency Obligations — 3.8%

    

Federal Farm Credit Bank, 4.55%, 6/08/20

   $ 3,500        3,892,703   

Collateralized Mortgage Obligations — 6.5%

    

Fannie Mae Mortgage-Backed Securities,
Series 2014-28, Class BD, 3.50%, 8/25/43

     1,625        1,704,155   

Ginnie Mae Mortgage-Backed Securities,
Series 2006-3, Class C, 5.24%, 4/16/39 (a)

     4,907        4,977,540   
    

 

 

 
               6,681,695   
U.S. Government Sponsored Agency Securities   

Par  

(000)

    Value  

Interest Only Collateralized Mortgage Obligations — 2.1%

  

 

Fannie Mae Mortgage-Backed Securities:

    

Series 2012-M9, Class X1, 4.02%, 12/25/17 (a)

   $ 4,331      $ 229,949   

Series 2012-47, Class NI, 4.50%, 4/25/42

     1,759        306,183   

Series 2012-96, Class DI, 4.00%, 2/25/27

     1,884        179,764   

Ginnie Mae Mortgage-Backed Securities (a):

    

Series 2006-30, Class IO, 2.09%, 5/16/46

     436        30,761   

Series 2009-78, Class SD, 5.80%, 9/20/32

     1,755        345,007   

Series 2009-116, Class KS, 6.13%, 12/16/39

     603        98,749   

Series 2011-52, Class NS, 6.33%, 4/16/41

     4,693        912,911   
    

 

 

 
               2,103,324   

Mortgage-Backed Securities — 64.9%

    

Fannie Mae Mortgage-Backed Securities:

    

2.50%, 4/01/28

     6,634        6,721,684   

3.00%, 6/01/42 - 4/01/43

     7,559        7,592,739   

3.50%, 8/01/26 - 8/01/44

     14,418        15,011,872   

4.00%, 4/01/24 - 2/01/41

     12,927        13,727,054   

4.50%, 4/01/39 - 8/01/40

     8,785        9,586,501   

5.00%, 11/01/33 - 2/01/40

     4,920        5,461,616   

5.50%, 10/01/23 - 1/01/46 (c)

     6,847        7,670,471   

6.00%, 2/01/36 - 3/01/38

     784        886,780   

Freddie Mac Mortgage-Backed Securities,
4.50%, 5/01/34

     262        282,585   

Ginnie Mae Mortgage-Backed Securities,
5.00%, 11/15/35

     7        7,756   
    

 

 

 
               66,949,058   
Total U.S. Government Sponsored Agency Securities — 77.3%        79,626,780   
    
                  
U.S. Treasury Obligations               

U.S. Treasury Bonds, 4.38%, 5/15/41 (d)

     6,000        7,571,952   

U.S. Treasury Notes:

    

1.38%, 4/30/20 (d)

     17,000        16,780,190   

1.50%, 5/31/20

     1,300        1,288,777   

3.13%, 5/15/21

     6,500        6,912,854   

2.00%, 11/30/22

     4,500        4,475,390   

2.00%, 2/15/25 (d)

     6,000        5,865,234   
Total U.S. Treasury Obligations — 41.6%              42,894,397   

Total Long-Term Investments

(Cost — $127,291,880) — 125.9%

             129,821,294   
    
                  
Short-Term Securities               

U.S. Treasury Obligations — 3.9%

    

U.S. Treasury Bills, 0.21%, 2/04/16 (e)

     4,000        3,999,652   
 

 

Portfolio Abbreviations      

 

IO    Interest Only
LIBOR    London Interbank Offered Rate
OTC    Over-the-Counter
TBA    To-be-announced

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    9


Schedule of Investments (continued)

     

 

Money Market Funds — 2.6%        
Shares
    Value  

BlackRock Liquidity Funds, TempFund, Institutional Class, 0.23% (f)(g)

     2,705,612      $ 2,705,612   

Total Short-Term Securities

(Cost — $6,704,838) — 6.5%

             6,705,264   
Total Investments Before TBA Sale Commitments
and Options Written
(Cost — $133,996,718) — 132.4%
         136,526,558   
TBA Sale Commitments   

Par  

(000)

    Value  

Fannie Mae Mortgage-Backed Securities (c):

    

5.50%, 1/01/46 – 2/01/46

   $ 6,660      $ (7,421,221

Total TBA Sale Commitments

(Proceeds — $7,423,280) — (7.2)%

             (7,421,221

Options Written

(Premiums Received — $280,000) — (0.5)%

  

  

    (477,921

Total Investments, Net of TBA Sale Commitments
and Options Written
(Cost — $126,293,438) — 124.7%

    

    128,627,416   
Liabilities in Excess of Other Assets — (24.7)%        (25,526,742
    

 

 

 
Net Assets — 100.0%      $ 103,100,674   
    

 

 

 
 
Notes to Schedule of Investments

 

(a)   Variable rate security. Rate is as of period end.

 

(b)   Security exempt from registration pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These securities may be resold in transactions exempt from registration to qualified institutional investors.

 

(c)   Represents or includes a TBA transaction. As of period end, unsettled TBA transactions were as follows:

 

Counterparty      Value        Unrealized
Appreciation
(Depreciation)
 

Barclays Bank PLC

     $ (2,750,533      $ 2,322   

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC

     $ (1,449,140      $ 767   

Goldman Sachs & Co.

     $ (434,742      $ 230   

JP Morgan Securities, Inc.

     $ 111,472         $ (168

 

(d)   All or a portion of security has been pledged as collateral in connection with outstanding reverse repurchase agreements.

 

(e)   Rates are discount rates or a range of discount rates at the time of purchase.

 

(f)   During the year ended December 31, 2015, investments in issuers considered to be an affiliate of the Fund for purposes of Section 2(a)(3) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, were as follows:

 

Affiliate      Shares Held
at December 31,
2014
       Net
Activity
       Shares Held
at December 31,
2015
       Income  

BlackRock Liquidity Funds, TempFund, Institutional Class

       1,848,337           857,275           2,705,612         $ 2,958   

 

(g)   Current yield as of period end.

As of period end, reverse repurchase agreements outstanding were as follows:

 

Counterparty   Interest
Rate
     Trade
Date
     Maturity
Date1
     Face Value      Face Value
Including
Accrued
Interest
     Type of
Underlying
Collateral
   Remaining
Contractual
Maturity of the
Agreements

Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

    0.52      6/19/15         Open       $ 3,925,000       $ 3,927,589       U.S. Treasury Obligations    Open/Demand1

Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

    0.52      8/25/15         Open         1,985,000         1,986,849       U.S. Treasury Obligations    Open/Demand1

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC

    0.45      11/19/15         Open         7,530,000         7,530,879       U.S. Treasury Obligations    Open/Demand1

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC

    0.47      11/19/15         Open         5,940,000         5,940,901       U.S. Treasury Obligations    Open/Demand1

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC

    0.47      12/1/15         Open         10,931,250         10,933,133       U.S. Treasury Obligations    Open/Demand1

Total

           $ 30,311,250       $ 30,319,351         
          

 

 

       

1    Certain agreements have no stated maturity and can be terminated by either party at any time.

       

        

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

                
10    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Schedule of Investments (continued)

     

 

 

Derivative Financial Instruments Outstanding as of Period End

OTC Interest Rate Swaptions Written

 

Description   Counterparty   Put/
Call
  Exercise
Rate
    Pay/
Receive
Exercise Rate
  Floating Rate
Index
    Expiration
Date
    Notional
Amount
(000)
    Value  

2-Year Interest Rate Swap

  Goldman Sachs International   Call     1.18   Pay     3-Month LIBOR        1/27/16      USD     35,000      $ (23,601

5-Year Interest Rate Swap

  Goldman Sachs International   Call     1.77   Pay     3-Month LIBOR        1/27/16      USD     40,000        (149,902

10-Year Interest Rate Swap

  Goldman Sachs International   Call     2.23   Pay     3-Month LIBOR        1/27/16      USD     15,000        (265,248

30-Year Interest Rate Swap

  Goldman Sachs International   Call     2.65   Pay     3-Month LIBOR        1/27/16      USD     5,000        (39,170

Total

                  $ (477,921
                 

 

 

 

 

Transactions in Options Written for the Year Ended December 31, 2015

 

    Calls  
     Contracts      Notional
(000)
       Premiums
Received
 

Outstanding options, beginning of year

       $ 108,800         $ 400,000   

Options written

         1,330,200           7,050,000   

Options exercised

                     

Options expired

         (481,400        (3,043,000

Options closed

         (862,600        (4,127,000
 

 

 

Outstanding options, end of year

       $ 95,000         $ 280,000   
 

 

 

 

Derivative Financial Instruments Categorized by Risk Exposure

As of period end, the fair values of derivative financial instruments located in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities were as follows:

 

Liabilities — Derivative Financial Instruments    Commodity
Contracts
   Credit
Contracts
   Equity
Contracts
   Foreign
Currency
Exchange
Contracts
   Interest Rate
Contracts
     Other
Contacts
   Total  

Options written

  Options written at value                $ 477,921          $ 477,921   
    

 

 

For the year ended December 31, 2015, the effect of derivative financial instruments in the Statement of Operations was as follows:

 

Net Realized Gain (Loss) from:   Commodity
Contracts
     Credit
Contracts
     Equity
Contracts
     Foreign
Currency
Exchange
Contracts
     Interest Rate
Contracts
       Other
Contacts
     Total  

Financial futures contracts

                      $ (63,860           $ (63,860

Options written

                        191,100                191,100   

Swaps

                        (15,089,112             (15,089,112
 

 

 

Total

                      $ (14,961,872           $ (14,961,872
 

 

 

 

Net Change in Unrealized
Appreciation (Depreciation) on:
  Commodity
Contracts
     Credit
Contracts
     Equity
Contracts
     Foreign
Currency
Exchange
Contracts
     Interest Rate
Contracts
       Other
Contacts
     Total  

Options written

                      $ (175,304           $ (175,304

Swaps

                        14,180,911                14,180,911   
 

 

 

Total

                      $ 14,005,607              $ 14,005,607   
 

 

 

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    11


Schedule of Investments (continued)

     

 

 

Average Quarterly Balances of Outstanding Derivative Financial Instruments

For the year ended December 31, 2015, the average quarterly balances of outstanding derivative financial instruments were as follows:

 

Financial futures contracts:        

Average notional value of contracts purchased

  $ 1,111,951   
Options:  

Average notional value of swaption contracts written

  $ 109,700,000   
Interest rate swap:  

Average notional value amount — pays fixed rate

  $ 24,779,600 1 

1    Actual amounts for the period are shown due to limited outstanding derivative financial instruments as of each quarter.

       

For more information about the Fund’s investment risks regarding derivative financial instruments, refer to the Notes to Financial Statements.

 

Derivative Financial Instruments — Offsetting as of Period End

The Fund’s derivative assets and liabilities (by type) were as follows:

 

     Assets      Liabilities  
Derivative Financial Instruments:       

Options written

       $ 477,921   
 

 

 

Total derivative assets and liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities

       $ 477,921   
 

 

 

Derivatives not subject to a Master Netting Agreement or similar agreement (“MNA”)

           
 

 

 

Total derivative assets and liabilities subject to an MNA

       $ 477,921   
 

 

 

The following table presents the Fund’s derivative liabilities by counterparty net of amounts available for offset under an MNA and net of the related collateral received and pledged by the Fund:

 

Counterparty   Derivative Liabilities Subject
to an MNA by  Counterparty
       Derivatives Available
for Offset
     Non-cash
Collateral Pledged
     Cash Collateral
Pledged
     Net Amount of
Derivative
Liabilities1
 

Goldman Sachs International

  $ 477,921                        $ 477,921   
 

 

 

 

1    Net amount represents the net amount payable due to the counterparty in the event of default. Net amount may be offset further by the options written receivable/payable on the Statement of Assets and Liabilites.

        

 

Fair Value Hierarchy as of Period End

Various inputs are used in determining the fair value of investments and derivative financial instruments. For information about the Fund’s policy regarding valuation of investments and derivative financial instruments, refer to the Notes to Financial Statements.

The following tables summarize the Fund’s investments and derivative financial instruments categorized in the disclosure hierarchy:

 

     Level 1        Level 2        Level 3      Total  

Assets:

                
Investments:                 

Long-Term Investments:

                

Asset-Backed Securities

            $ 1,981,233              $ 1,981,233   

Non-Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities

              1,263,312                1,263,312   

Preferred Securities

  $ 1,996,492           2,059,080                4,055,572   

U.S. Government Sponsored Agency Securities

              79,626,780                79,626,780   

U.S. Treasury Obligations

              42,894,397                42,894,397   

Short-Term Securities

    2,705,612           3,999,652                6,705,264   

Liabilities:

                
Investments:                 

TBA Sale Commitments

              (7,421,221             (7,421,221
 

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

    

 

 

 

Total

  $ 4,702,104         $ 124,403,233              $ 129,105,337   
 

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

    

 

 

 

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

                
12    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Schedule of Investments (concluded)

     

 

     Level 1      Level 2        Level 3      Total  
Derivative Financial Instruments1                 

Liabilities:

                

Interest rate contracts

       $ (477,921)              $ (477,921
 

 

    

 

 

      

 

    

 

 

 
   

 

    

 

 

      

 

    

 

 

 

1    Derivative financial instruments are options written, which are shown at value.

                

 

The Fund may hold assets and/or liabilities in which the fair value approximates the carrying amount or face value, including accrued interest, for financial statement purposes. As of period end, such assets and/or liabilities are categorized within the disclosure hierarchy as follows:

 

     Level 1        Level 2        Level 3      Total  

Assets:

                

Cash pledged as collateral for OTC derivatives

  $ 50,000                        $ 50,000   

Foreign currency at value

    282                          282   

Liabilities:

                

Reverse repurchase agreements

            $ (30,319,351)                (30,319,351
 

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

    

 

 

 

Total

  $ 50,282         $ (30,319,351)              $ (30,269,069
 

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

    

 

 

 

During the year ended December 31, 2015, there were no transfers between levels.

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    13


Statement of Assets and Liabilities     

 

December 31, 2015      
 
Assets   

Investments at value — unaffiliated (cost — $131,291,106)

  $ 133,820,946   

Investments at value — affiliated (cost — $2,705,612)

    2,705,612   

Cash pledged as collateral for OTC derivatives

    50,000   

Foreign currency at value (cost — $345)

    282   
Receivables:  

TBA sale commitments

    7,423,280   

Interest

    486,158   

Options written

    280,000   

Prepaid expenses

    3,129   
 

 

 

 

Total assets

    144,769,407   
 

 

 

 
 
Liabilities        

TBA sale commitments at value (proceeds — $7,423,280)

    7,421,221   

Options written at value (premiums received — $280,000)

    477,921   

Reverse repurchase agreements

    30,319,351   
Payables:  

Investments purchased

    2,901,954   

Income dividends

    353,626   

Investment advisory fees

    62,829   

Officer’s and Directors’ fees

    3,965   

Other accrued expenses

    127,866   
 

 

 

 

Total liabilities

    41,668,733   
 

 

 

 

Net Assets

  $ 103,100,674   
 

 

 

 
 
Net Assets Consist of        

Paid-in capital

  $ 122,956,464   

Distributions in excess of net investment income

    (353,626

Accumulated net realized loss

    (21,836,079

Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation)

    2,333,915   
 

 

 

 

Net Assets

  $ 103,100,674   
 

 

 

 
 
Net Asset Value        

Based on net assets of $103,100,674 and 7,216,866 shares outstanding, 200 million shares authorized, $0.10 par value

  $ 14.29   
 

 

 

 

 

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.      
                
14    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Statement of Operations     

 

Year Ended December 31, 2015      
 
Investment Income        

Interest

  $ 4,491,443   

Dividends — affiliated

    2,958   
 

 

 

 

Total income

    4,494,401   
 

 

 

 
 
Expenses        

Investment advisory

    1,284,068   

Professional

    68,841   

Printing

    28,779   

Repurchase offer

    26,959   

Accounting services

    23,517   

Transfer agent

    18,083   

Officer and Directors

    11,152   

Custodian

    10,791   

Registration

    8,907   

Miscellaneous

    32,830   
 

 

 

 

Total expenses excluding interest expense

    1,513,927   

Interest expense

    50,727   
 

 

 

 

Total expenses

    1,564,654   

Less fees waived by the Manager

    (357,609
 

 

 

 

Total expenses after fees waived

    1,207,045   
 

 

 

 

Net investment income

    3,287,356   
 

 

 

 
 
Realized and Unrealized Gain (Loss)        
Net realized gain (loss) from:  

Investments

    3,792,281   

Financial futures contracts

    (63,860

Options written

    191,100   

Swaps

    (15,089,112
 

 

 

 
    (11,169,591
 

 

 

 
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on:  

Investments

    (6,883,637

Foreign currency translations

    (34

Options written

    (175,304

Swaps

    14,180,911   
 

 

 

 
    7,121,936   
 

 

 

 

Net realized and unrealized loss

    (4,047,655
 

 

 

 

Net Decrease in Net Assets Resulting from Operations

  $ (760,299
 

 

 

 

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.      
                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    15


Statements of Changes in Net Assets     

 

    Year Ended December 31,  
Increase (Decrease) in Net Assets:   2015     2014  
   
Operations                

Net investment income

  $ 3,287,356      $ 4,299,690   

Net realized loss

    (11,169,591     (4,353,848

Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation)

    7,121,936        4,161,700   
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations

    (760,299     4,107,542   
 

 

 

   

 

 

 
   
Distributions to Shareholders1                

From net investment income

    (3,258,439     (3,160,205

From return of capital

    (1,618,558     (2,622,197
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Decrease in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders

    (4,876,997     (5,782,402
 

 

 

   

 

 

 
   
Capital Share Transactions                

Redemption of shares resulting from a repurchase offer2

    (11,308,174     (13,106,004
 

 

 

   

 

 

 
   
Net Assets                

Total decrease in net assets

    (16,945,470     (14,780,864

Beginning of year

    120,046,144        134,827,008   
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

End of year

  $ 103,100,674      $ 120,046,144   
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Distributions in excess of net investment income, end of year

  $ (353,626   $ (441,031
 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

  1   

Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations.

 

  2   

Net of repurchase fees of $230,779 and $267,469, respectively.

 

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.      
                
16    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Statement of Cash Flows     

 

Year Ended December 31, 2015

 

     
Cash Provided by Operating Activities        

Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations

  $ (760,299

Adjustments to reconcile net decrease in net assets resulting from operations to net cash provided by operating activities:

 

Proceeds from sales of long-term investments

    202,958,611   

Purchases of long-term investments

    (158,167,220
Net payments for purchases of short-term securities     (4,856,501

Amortization of premium and accretion of discount on investments

    1,152,460   

Premiums received from options written

    7,170,000   

Premiums paid on closing options written

    (7,624,900

Net realized gain on investments and options written

    (3,983,381

Net unrealized appreciation on investments, options written and swaps

    (7,113,834
(Increase) decrease in assets:  
Cash Pledged:  

Collateral — OTC derivatives

    14,990,000   

Centrally cleared swaps

    35,000   
Receivables:  

Interest

    697,922   

Swaps

    4,522   

Prepaid expenses

    1,378   
Increase (decrease) in liabilities:  

Cash received as collateral for reverse repurchase agreements

    (1,047,000
Payables:  

Investment advisory fees

    (35,651

Swaps

    (15,876

Interest expense

    2,165   

Officer’s and Directors’ fees

    176   

Other accrued expenses

    26,288   

Variation margin payable on centrally cleared swaps

    (20,034
 

 

 

 

Net cash provided by operating activities

    43,413,826   
 

 

 

 
 
Cash Used for Financing Activities        

Payments on redemptions of Common Shares

    (11,308,174

Net borrowing of reverse repurchase agreements

    (27,141,250

Cash dividends paid to Common Shareholders

    (4,964,402
 

 

 

 

Net cash used for financing activities

    (43,413,826
 

 

 

 
 
Cash Impact from Foreign Exchange Fluctuations        

Cash impact from foreign exchange fluctuations

  $ (34
 

 

 

 
 
Cash and Foreign Currency        

Net decrease in cash and foreign currency at value

    (34

Cash and foreign currency at value at beginning of year

    316   
 

 

 

 

Cash and foreign currency at value at end of year

  $ 282   
 

 

 

 
 
Supplemental Disclosure of Cash Flow Information        

Cash paid during the year for interest expense

  $ 48,562   
 

 

 

 

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.      
                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    17


Financial Highlights    BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc. (EGF)

 

    Year Ended December 31,  
    2015     2014     2013     2012     2011  
         
Per Share Operating Performance                                        

Net asset value, beginning of year

  $ 14.97      $ 15.13      $ 16.11      $ 16.25      $ 16.40   
 

 

 

 

Net investment income1

    0.41        0.49        0.47        0.67        0.70   

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)2

    (0.47     0.01        (0.69     0.02        0.07   
 

 

 

 

Net increase (decrease) from investment operations

    (0.06     0.50        (0.22     0.69        0.77   
 

 

 

 
Distributions:3          

From net investment income

    (0.42     (0.36     (0.37     (0.55     (0.39

From return of capital

    (0.20     (0.30     (0.39     (0.28     (0.53
 

 

 

 

Total distributions

    (0.62     (0.66     (0.76     (0.83     (0.92
 

 

 

 

Net asset value, end of year

  $ 14.29      $ 14.97      $ 15.13      $ 16.11      $ 16.25   
 

 

 

 

Market price, end of year

  $ 13.65      $ 14.26      $ 13.95      $ 15.63      $ 15.25   
 

 

 

 
         
Total Return4                                        

Based on net asset value

    (0.18)%        3.65%        (1.06)%        4.59%        5.15%   
 

 

 

 

Based on market price

    0.10%        7.08%        (5.98)%        8.13%        4.34%   
 

 

 

 
         
Ratios to Average Net Assets                                        

Total expenses

    1.34%        1.43%        1.32%        1.43%        1.39%   
 

 

 

 

Total expenses after fees waived

    1.04%        1.20%        1.25%        1.42%        1.39%   
 

 

 

 

Total expenses after fees waived and excluding interest expense

    0.99%        1.16%        1.20%        1.35%        1.35%   
 

 

 

 

Net investment income

    2.83%        3.22%        2.98%        4.15%        4.32%   
 

 

 

 
         
Supplemental Data                                        

Net assets, end of year (000)

  $  103,101      $  120,046      $  134,827      $  159,465      $  178,765   
 

 

 

 

Borrowings outstanding, end of year (000)

  $ 30,319      $ 57,458      $ 52,142      $ 66,410      $ 90,460   
 

 

 

 

Portfolio turnover rate5

    114%        86%        111%        142%        115%   
 

 

 

 

 

  1   

Based on average shares outstanding.

 

  2   

Net realized and unrealized gain (loss) per share amounts include repurchase fees of $0.03, $0.03, $0.03, $0.03, and $0.02 for the years ended December 31, 2015 through December 31, 2011, respectively.

 

  3   

Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations.

 

  4   

Total returns based on market price, which can be significantly greater or less than the net asset value, may result in substantially different returns. Where applicable, excludes the effects of any sales charges and assumes the reinvestment of distributions.

 

  5   

Includes mortgage dollar roll transactions. Additional information regarding portfolio turnover is as follows:

 

    Year Ended December 31,  
    2015     2014     2013     2012     2011  
         

Portfolio turnover (excluding mortgage dollar roll transactions)

    68%        42%        57%        83%        98%   
 

 

 

 

 

 

See Notes to Financial Statements.      
                
18    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Notes to Financial Statements     

 

1. Organization:

BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc. (the “Fund”) is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), as a diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund is organized as a Maryland corporation. The Fund determines and makes available for publication the net asset value (“NAV”) of its Common Shares on a daily basis.

The Fund, together with certain other registered investment companies advised by BlackRock Advisors, LLC (the “Manager”) or its affiliates, is included in a complex of closed-end funds referred to as the Closed-End Complex.

2. Significant Accounting Policies:

The financial statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”), which may require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities in the financial statements, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The Fund is considered an investment company under U.S. GAAP and follows the accounting and reporting guidance applicable to investment companies. Below is a summary of significant accounting policies:

Foreign Currency: The Fund’s books and records are maintained in U.S. dollars. Purchases and sales of investments are recorded at the rates of exchange prevailing on the respective dates of such transactions. Generally, when the U.S. dollar rises in value against a foreign currency, the investments denominated in that currency will lose value; the opposite effect occurs if the U.S. dollar falls in relative value.

The Fund does not isolate changes in the exchange rates from the changes in the market prices of investments held or sold for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, the effects of changes in exchange rates on investments are not segregated in the Statement of Operations from the effects of changes in market prices of those investments, but are included as a component of net realized and unrealized gain (loss) from investments. The Fund reports realized currency gains (losses) on foreign currency related transactions as components of net realized gain (loss) for financial reporting purposes, whereas such components are generally treated as ordinary income for federal income tax purposes.

Segregation and Collateralization: In cases where the Fund enters into certain investments (e.g., dollar rolls, TBA sale commitments and options written) or certain borrowings (e.g., reverse repurchase transactions) that would be treated as “senior securities” for 1940 Act purposes, the Fund may segregate or designate on its books and records cash or liquid assets having a market value at least equal to the amount of its future obligations under such investments or borrowings. Doing so allows the investment or borrowing to be excluded from treatment as a “senior security.” Furthermore, if required by an exchange or counterparty agreement, the Fund may be required to deliver/deposit cash and/or securities to/with an exchange, or broker-dealer or custodian as collateral for certain investments or obligations.

Investment Transactions and Investment Income: For financial reporting purposes, investment transactions are recorded on the dates the transactions are entered into (the trade dates). Realized gains and losses on investment transactions are determined on the identified cost basis. Interest income, including amortization and accretion of premiums and discounts on debt securities, is recognized on the accrual basis.

Distributions: Distributions paid by the Fund are recorded on the ex-dividend date. Subject to the Fund’s level distribution plan, the Fund intends to make monthly cash distributions to shareholders, which may consist of net investment income, net options premium and net realized and unrealized gains on investments and/or return of capital.

Portions of return of capital distributions under U.S. GAAP may be taxed at ordinary income rates.

The character of distributions is determined in accordance with federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP. The portion of distributions that exceeds the Fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits, which are measured on a tax basis, will constitute a non-taxable return of capital. Realized net capital gains can be offset by capital losses carried forward from prior years. However, the Fund has capital loss carryforwards from pre-2012 tax years that offset realized net capital gains but do not offset current and accumulated earnings and profits. Consequently, if distributions in any tax year are less than the Fund’s current earnings and profits but greater than net investment income and net realized capital gains (taxable income), distributions in excess of taxable income are not treated as non-taxable return of capital, but rather may be taxable to shareholders at ordinary income rates. Under certain circumstances, taxable excess distributions could be significant. See Note 8, Income Tax Information, for the tax character of the Fund’s distributions paid during the period.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    19


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)     

 

Deferred Compensation Plan: Under the Deferred Compensation Plan (the “Plan”) approved by the Fund’s Board, the independent Directors (“Independent Directors”) may defer a portion of their annual complex-wide compensation. Deferred amounts earn an approximate return as though equivalent dollar amounts had been invested in common shares of certain other BlackRock Closed-End Funds selected by the Independent Directors. This has the same economic effect for the Independent Directors as if the Independent Directors had invested the deferred amounts directly in certain other BlackRock Closed-End Funds.

The Plan is not funded and obligations thereunder represent general unsecured claims against the general assets of the Fund, if applicable. Deferred compensation liabilities are included in officer’s and directors’ fees payable in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and will remain as a liability of the Fund until such amounts are distributed in accordance with the Plan.

Indemnifications: In the normal course of business, the Fund enters into contracts that contain a variety of representations that provide general indemnification. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown because it involves future potential claims against the Fund, which cannot be predicted with any certainty.

Other: Expenses directly related to the Fund are charged to the Fund. Other operating expenses shared by several funds, including other funds managed by the Manager, are prorated among those funds on the basis of relative net assets or other appropriate methods.

The Fund has an arrangement with its custodian whereby fees may be reduced by credits earned on uninvested cash balances, which, if applicable, are shown as fees paid indirectly in the Statement of Operations. The custodian imposes fees on overdrawn cash balances, which can be offset by accumulated credits earned or may result in additional custody charges. Effective September 2015, the arrangement with its custodian for earning credits on uninvested cash balances has ceased and the custodian will be imposing fees on certain uninvested cash balances.

3. Investment Valuation and Fair Value Measurements:

Investment Valuation Policies: The Fund’s investments are valued at fair value (also referred to as “market value” within the financial statements) as of the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) (generally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time). U.S. GAAP defines fair value as the price the Fund would receive to sell an asset or pay to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The Fund determines the fair values of its financial instruments using independent dealers or pricing services under policies approved by the Board of Directors of the Fund (the “Board”). The BlackRock Global Valuation Methodologies Committee (the “Global Valuation Committee”) is the committee formed by management to develop global pricing policies and procedures and to provide oversight of the pricing function for the Fund for all financial instruments.

Fair Value Inputs and Methodologies: The following methods (or “techniques”) and inputs are used to establish the fair value of the Fund’s assets and liabilities:

 

 

Bond investments are valued on the basis of last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or pricing services. Floating rate loan interests are valued at the mean of the bid prices from one or more brokers or dealers as obtained from a pricing service. In determining the value of a particular investment, pricing services may use certain information with respect to transactions in such investments, quotations from dealers, pricing matrixes, market transactions in comparable investments, various relationships observed in the market between investments and calculated yield measures. Asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities are valued by independent pricing services using models that consider estimated cash flows of each tranche of the security, establish a benchmark yield and develop an estimated tranche-specific spread to the benchmark yield based on the unique attributes of the tranche.

 

 

To-be-announced (“TBA”) commitments are valued on the basis of last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by pricing services.

 

 

Financial futures contracts traded on exchanges are valued at their last sale price.

 

 

Investments in open-end U.S. mutual funds are valued at NAV each business day.

 

 

Securities and other assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars using exchange rates determined as of the close of business on the NYSE. Forward foreign currency exchange contracts are valued at the mean between the bid and ask prices and are determined as of the close of business on the NYSE. Interpolated values are derived when the settlement date of the contract is an interim date for which quotations are not available.

 

                
20    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)     

 

 

 

Exchange-traded options are valued at the mean between the last bid and ask prices at the close of the options market in which the options trade. An exchange-traded option for which there is no mean price is valued at the last bid (long positions) or ask (short positions) price. If no bid or ask price is available, the prior day’s price will be used, unless it is determined that the prior day’s price no longer reflects the fair value of the option. Over-the-counter (“OTC”) options on swaps (“swaptions”) are valued by an independent pricing service using a mathematical model, which incorporates a number of market data factors, such as the trades and prices of the underlying instruments.

 

 

Swap agreements are valued utilizing quotes received daily by the Fund’s pricing service or through brokers, which are derived using daily swap curves and models that incorporate a number of market data factors, such as discounted cash flows, trades and values of the underlying reference instruments.

If events (e.g., a company announcement, market volatility or a natural disaster) occur that are expected to materially affect the value of such instruments, or in the event that the application of these methods of valuation results in a price for an investment that is deemed not to be representative of the market value of such investment, or if a price is not available, the investment will be valued by the Global Valuation Committee, or its delegate, in accordance with a policy approved by the Board as reflecting fair value (“Fair Valued Investments”). When determining the price for Fair Valued Investments, the Global Valuation Committee, or its delegate, seeks to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive or pay from the current sale or purchase of that asset or liability in an arm’s-length transaction. Fair value determinations shall be based upon all available factors that the Global Valuation Committee, or its delegate, deems relevant consistent with the principles of fair value measurement. The pricing of all Fair Valued Investments is subsequently reported to the Board or a committee thereof on a quarterly basis.

Fair Value Hierarchy: Various inputs are used in determining the fair value of investments and derivative financial instruments. These inputs to valuation techniques are categorized into a fair value hierarchy consisting of three broad levels for financial statement purposes as follows:

 

 

Level 1 — unadjusted price quotations in active markets/exchanges for identical assets or liabilities that the Fund has the ability to access

 

 

Level 2 — other observable inputs (including, but not limited to, quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in markets that are active, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the assets or liabilities (such as interest rates, yield curves, volatilities, prepayment speeds, loss severities, credit risks and default rates) or other market–corroborated inputs)

 

 

Level 3 — unobservable inputs based on the best information available in the circumstances, to the extent observable inputs are not available (including the Fund’s own assumptions used in determining the fair value of investments and derivative financial instruments)

The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). Accordingly, the degree of judgment exercised in determining fair value is greatest for instruments categorized in Level 3. The inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In such cases, for disclosure purposes, the fair value hierarchy classification is determined based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement in its entirety. The significant unobservable inputs used by the Global Valuation Committee in determining the price for Fair Valued Investments are typically categorized as Level 3. The fair value hierarchy for the Fund’s investments and derivative financial instruments has been included in the Schedule of Investments.

Changes in valuation techniques may result in transfers into or out of an assigned level within the hierarchy. In accordance with the Fund’s policy, transfers between different levels of the fair value hierarchy are deemed to have occurred as of the beginning of the reporting period. The categorization of a value determined for investments and derivative financial instruments is based on the pricing transparency of the investments and derivative financial instruments and is not necessarily an indication of the risks associated with investing in those securities.

4. Securities and Other Investments:

Asset-Backed and Mortgage-Backed Securities: Asset-backed securities are generally issued as pass-through certificates or as debt instruments. Asset-backed securities issued as pass-through certificates represent undivided fractional ownership interests in an underlying pool of assets. Asset-backed securities issued as debt instruments, which are also known as collateralized obligations are typically issued as the debt of a special purpose entity organized solely for the purpose of owning such assets and issuing such debt. Asset-backed securities are often backed by a pool of assets representing the obligations of a number of different parties. The yield characteristics of certain asset-backed securities may differ from traditional debt securities. One such major difference is that all or a principal part of the obligations may be prepaid at any time because the underlying assets (i.e., loans) may be prepaid at any time. As a result, a decrease in interest rates in the market may result in increases in the level of prepayments as

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    21


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)     

 

borrowers, particularly mortgagors, refinance and repay their loans. An increased prepayment rate with respect to an asset-backed security will have the effect of shortening the maturity of the security. In addition, the Fund may subsequently have to reinvest the proceeds at lower interest rates. If the Fund has purchased such an asset-backed security at a premium, a faster than anticipated prepayment rate could result in a loss of principal to the extent of the premium paid.

For mortgage pass through securities, there are a number of important differences among the agencies and instrumentalities of the U.S. Government that issue mortgage-related securities and among the securities that they issue. For example, mortgage-related securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae are guaranteed as to the timely payment of principal and interest by Ginnie Mae and such guarantee is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. However, mortgage-related securities issued by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, including Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae guaranteed mortgage pass-through certificates, which are solely the obligations of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, are not backed by or entitled to the full faith and credit of the United States, but are supported by the right of the issuer to borrow from the U.S. Treasury.

Non-agency mortgage-backed securities are securities issued by non-governmental issuers and have no direct or indirect government guarantees of payment and are subject to various risks. Non-agency mortgage loans are obligations of the borrowers thereunder only and are not typically insured or guaranteed by any other person or entity. The ability of a borrower to repay a loan is dependent upon the income or assets of the borrower. A number of factors, including a general economic downturn, acts of God, terrorism, social unrest and civil disturbances, may impair a borrower’s ability to repay its loans.

Multiple Class Pass-Through Securities: Multiple class pass-through securities, including collateralized mortgage obligations (“CMOs”) and commercial mortgage-backed securities may be issued by Ginnie Mae, U.S. Government agencies or instrumentalities or by trusts formed by private originators of, or investors in, mortgage loans. In general, CMOs are debt obligations of a legal entity that are collateralized by a pool of residential or commercial mortgage loans or mortgage pass-through securities (the “Mortgage Assets”). The payments on these are used to make payments on the CMOs or multiple pass-through securities. Multiple class pass-through securities represent direct ownership interests in the Mortgage Assets. Classes of CMOs include interest only (“IOs”), principal only (“POs”), planned amortization classes and targeted amortization classes. IOs and POs are stripped mortgage-backed securities representing interests in a pool of mortgages, the cash flow from which has been separated into interest and principal components. IOs receive the interest portion of the cash flow while POs receive the principal portion. IOs and POs can be extremely volatile in response to changes in interest rates. As interest rates rise and fall, the value of IOs tends to move in the same direction as interest rates. POs perform best when prepayments on the underlying mortgages rise since this increases the rate at which the principal is returned and the yield to maturity on the PO. When payments on mortgages underlying a PO are slower than anticipated, the life of the PO is lengthened and the yield to maturity is reduced. If the underlying Mortgage Assets experience greater than anticipated prepayments of principal, the Fund’s initial investment in the IOs may not fully recoup.

Stripped Mortgage-Backed Securities: Stripped mortgage-backed securities are issued by the U.S. Government, its agencies and instrumentalities. Stripped mortgage-backed securities are usually structured with two classes that receive different proportions of the interest (IOs) and principal (POs) distributions on a pool of Mortgage Assets. The Fund also may invest in stripped mortgage-backed securities that are privately issued.

Capital Securities and Trust Preferred Securities: Capital securities, including trust preferred securities, are typically issued by corporations, generally in the form of interest-bearing notes with preferred securities characteristics, or in the case of trust preferred securities, by an affiliated business trust of a corporation, generally in the form of beneficial interests in subordinated debentures or similarly structured securities. The securities can be structured as either fixed or adjustable coupon securities that can have either a perpetual or stated maturity date. For trust preferred securities, the issuing bank or corporation pays interest to the trust, which is then distributed to holders of the trust preferred securities as a dividend. Dividends can be deferred without creating an event of default or acceleration, although maturity cannot take place unless all cumulative payment obligations have been met. The deferral of payments does not affect the purchase or sale of these securities in the open market. Payments on these securities are treated as interest rather than dividends for federal income tax purposes. These securities generally are rated below that of the issuing company’s senior debt securities and are freely callable at the issuer’s option.

TBA Commitments: TBA commitments are forward agreements for the purchase or sale of mortgage-backed securities for a fixed price, with payment and delivery on an agreed upon future settlement date. The specific securities to be delivered are not identified at the trade date. However, delivered securities must meet specified terms, including issuer, rate and mortgage terms. When entering into TBA commitments, the Fund may take possession of or deliver the underlying mortgage-backed securities but can extend the settlement or roll the transaction. TBA commitments involve a risk of loss if the value of the security to be purchased or sold declines or increases, respectively, prior to settlement date.

 

                
22    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)     

 

In order to better define contractual rights and to secure rights that will help the Fund mitigate its counterparty risk, TBA commitments may be entered into by the Fund under Master Securities Forward Transaction Agreements (each, an “MSFTA”). An MSFTA typically contains, among other things, collateral posting terms and netting provisions in the event of default and/or termination event. The collateral requirements are typically calculated by netting the mark-to-market amount for each transaction under such agreement and comparing that amount to the value of the collateral currently pledged by the Fund and the counterparty. Cash collateral that has been pledged to cover the obligations of the Fund and cash collateral received from the counterparty, if any, is reported separately on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as cash pledged as collateral for TBA commitments or cash received as collateral for TBA commitments, respectively. Non-cash collateral pledged by the Fund, if any, is noted in the Schedule of Investments. Typically, the Fund is permitted to sell, repledge or use the collateral it receives; however, the counterparty is not permitted to do so. To the extent amounts due to the Fund are not fully collateralized, contractually or otherwise, the Fund bears the risk of loss from counterparty non-performance.

Mortgage Dollar Roll Transactions: The Fund may sell TBA mortgage-backed securities and simultaneously contract to repurchase substantially similar (i.e., same type, coupon and maturity) securities on a specific future date at an agreed upon price. During the period between the sale and repurchase, the Fund is not entitled to receive interest and principal payments on the securities sold. Mortgage dollar roll transactions are treated as purchases and sales and the Fund realizes gains and losses on these transactions. Mortgage dollar rolls involve the risk that the market value of the securities that the Fund is required to purchase may decline below the agreed upon repurchase price of those securities.

Reverse Repurchase Agreements: Reverse repurchase agreements are agreements with qualified third party broker dealers in which the Fund sells securities to a bank or broker-dealer and agrees to repurchase the same securities at a mutually agreed upon date and price. The Fund receives cash from the sale to use for other investment purposes. During the term of the reverse repurchase agreement, the Fund continues to receive the principal and interest payments on the securities sold. Certain agreements have no stated maturity and can be terminated by either party at any time. Interest on the value of the reverse repurchase agreements issued and outstanding is based upon competitive market rates determined at the time of issuance. The Fund may utilize reverse repurchase agreements when it is anticipated that the interest income to be earned from the investment of the proceeds of the transaction is greater than the interest expense of the transaction. Reverse repurchase agreements involve leverage risk. If the Fund suffers a loss on its investment of the transaction proceeds from a reverse repurchase agreement, the Fund would still be required to pay the full repurchase price. Further, the Fund remains subject to the risk that the market value of the securities repurchased declines below the repurchase price. In such cases, the Fund would be required to return a portion of the cash received from the transaction or provide additional securities to the counterparty.

Cash received in exchange for securities delivered plus accrued interest due to the counterparty is recorded as a liability in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities at face value including accrued interest. Due to the short- term nature of the reverse repurchase agreements, face value approximates fair value. Interest payments made by the Fund to the counterparties are recorded as a component of interest expense in the Statement of Operations. In periods of increased demand for the security, the Fund may receive a fee for use of the security by the counterparty, which may result in interest income to the Fund.

For the year ended December 31, 2015, the average amount of reverse repurchase agreements outstanding and the daily weighted average interest rate for the Fund were $34,636,297 and 0.15%, respectively.

Reverse repurchase transactions are entered into by the Fund under Master Repurchase Agreements (each, an “MRA”), which permit the Fund, under certain circumstances, including an event of default (such as bankruptcy or insolvency), to offset payables and/or receivables under the MRA with collateral held and/or posted to the counterparty and create one single net payment due to or from the Fund. With reverse repurchase transactions, typically the Fund and the counterparty under an MRA are permitted to sell, re-pledge, or use the collateral associated with the transaction. Bankruptcy or insolvency laws of a particular jurisdiction may impose restrictions on or prohibitions against such a right of offset in the event of the MRA counterparty’s bankruptcy or insolvency. Pursuant to the terms of the MRA, the Fund receives or posts securities as collateral with a market value in excess of the repurchase price to be paid or received by the Fund upon the maturity of the transaction. Upon a bankruptcy or insolvency of the MRA counterparty, the Fund is considered an unsecured creditor with respect to excess collateral and, as such, the return of excess collateral may be delayed.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    23


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)     

 

As of period end, the following table is a summary of the Fund’s open reverse repurchase agreements by counterparty which are subject to offset under an MRA on a net basis:

 

Counterparty   Reverse
Repurchase
Agreements
     Fair Value of Non-
cash Collateral
Pledged Including
Accrued Interest1
     Cash Collateral
Pledged
     Non-cash
Collateral
Pledged/
Received1
     Net  Amount2  

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC

  $ 24,404,913       $ (24,404,913                        

Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

    5,914,438         (5,910,560                    $ 3,878   
 

 

 

 

Total

  $ 30,319,351       $ (30,315,473                    $ 3,878   
 

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

  1   

Net collateral with a value of $30,259,113 has been pledged in connection with open reverse repurchase agreements. Excess of collateral pledged to the individual counterparty is not shown for financial reporting purposes.

 

  2   

Net amount represents the net amount payable due to the counterparty in the event of default.

In the event the counterparty of securities under an MRA files for bankruptcy or becomes insolvent, the Fund’s use of the proceeds from the agreement may be restricted while the counterparty, or its trustee or receiver, determines whether or not to enforce the Fund’s obligation to repurchase the securities.

5. Derivative Financial Instruments:

The Fund engages in various portfolio investment strategies using derivative contracts both to increase the returns of the Fund and/or to manage economically its exposure to certain risks such as interest rate risk. These contracts may be transacted on an exchange or OTC.

Financial Futures Contracts: The Fund invests in long and/or short positions in financial futures contracts and options on financial futures contracts to gain exposure to, or economically hedge against, changes in interest rates (interest rate risk). Financial futures contracts are agreements between the Fund and a counterparty to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying instrument at a specified price and at a specified date. Depending on the terms of the particular contract, financial futures contracts are settled either through physical delivery of the underlying instrument on the settlement date or by payment of a cash settlement amount on the settlement date.

Upon entering into a financial futures contract, the Fund is required to deposit initial margin with the broker in the form of cash or securities in an amount that varies depending on a contract’s size and risk profile. The initial margin deposit must then be maintained at an established level over the life of the contract. Securities deposited as initial margin are designated on the Schedule of Investments and cash deposited, if any, is recorded on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as cash pledged for financial futures contracts. Pursuant to the contract, the Fund agrees to receive from or pay to the broker an amount of cash equal to the daily fluctuation in value of the contract. Such receipts or payments are known as variation margin. Variation margin is recorded by the Fund as unrealized appreciation (depreciation) and, if applicable, as a receivable or payable for variation margin in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

When the contract is closed, the Fund records a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the value of the contract at the time it was opened and the value at the time it was closed. The use of financial futures contracts involves the risk of an imperfect correlation in the movements in the price of financial futures contracts, interest or foreign currency exchange rates and the underlying assets.

Options: The Fund purchases and writes call and put options to increase or decrease its exposure to underlying instruments including interest rate risk and/or, in the case of options written, to generate gains from options premiums. A call option gives the purchaser (holder) of the option the right (but not the obligation) to buy, and obligates the seller (writer) to sell (when the option is exercised) the underlying instrument at the exercise or strike price at any time or at a specified time during the option period. A put option gives the holder the right to sell and obligates the writer to buy the underlying instrument at the exercise or strike price at any time or at a specified time during the option period. When the Fund purchases (writes) an option, an amount equal to the premium paid (received) by the Fund is reflected as an asset (liability). The amount of the asset (liability) is subsequently marked-to-market to reflect the current market value of the option purchased (written). When an instrument is purchased or sold through an exercise of an option, the related premium paid (or received) is added to (or deducted from) the basis of the instrument acquired or deducted from (or added to) the proceeds of the instrument sold. When an option expires (or the Fund enters into a closing transaction), the Fund realizes a gain or loss on the option to the extent of the premiums received or paid (or gain or loss to the extent the cost of the closing transaction exceeds the premiums received or paid). When the Fund writes a call option, such option is “covered,” meaning that the Fund holds the underlying instrument subject to being called by the option counterparty. When the Fund writes a put option, such option is covered by cash in an amount sufficient to cover the obligation.

 

                
24    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)     

 

Options on swaps (“swaptions”) are similar to options on securities except that instead of selling or purchasing the right to buy or sell a security, the writer or purchaser of the swaptions is granting or buying the right to enter into a previously agreed upon interest rate or credit default swap agreement (interest rate risk and/or credit risk) at any time before the expiration of the option.

In purchasing and writing options, the Fund bears the risk of an unfavorable change in the value of the underlying instrument or the risk that the Fund may not be able to enter into a closing transaction due to an illiquid market. Exercise of a written option could result in the Fund purchasing or selling a security when it otherwise would not, or at a price different from the current market value.

Swaps: The Fund enters into swap agreements in which the Fund and a counterparty agree either to make periodic net payments on a specified notional amount or a net payment upon termination. Swap agreements are privately negotiated in the OTC market and may be entered into as a bilateral contract (“OTC swaps”) or centrally cleared (“centrally cleared swaps”). Swaps are marked-to-market daily and changes in value are recorded as unrealized appreciation (depreciation).

For OTC swaps, any upfront premiums paid are recorded as assets and any upfront fees received are recorded as liabilities and are shown as swap premiums paid and swap premiums received, respectively, in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and amortized over the term of the OTC swap. Payments received or made by the Fund for OTC swaps are recorded in the Statement of Operations as realized gains or losses, respectively. When an OTC swap is terminated, the Fund will record a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the proceeds from (or cost of) the closing transaction and the Fund’s basis in the contract, if any. Generally, the basis of the contract is the premium received or paid.

In a centrally cleared swap, immediately following execution of the swap agreement, the swap agreement is novated to a central counterparty (the “CCP”) and the Fund’s counterparty on the swap agreement becomes the CCP. The Fund is required to interface with the CCP through a broker. Upon entering into a centrally cleared swap, the Fund is required to deposit initial margin with the broker in the form of cash or securities in an amount that varies depending on the size and risk profile of the particular swap. Securities deposited as initial margin are designated on the Schedule of Investments and cash deposited is recorded on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as cash pledged for centrally cleared swaps. The daily change in valuation of centrally cleared swaps is recorded as a receivable or payable for variation margin in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Payments received from (paid to) the counterparty, including at termination, are recorded as realized gain (loss) in the Statement of Operations.

Swap transactions involve, to varying degrees, elements of interest rate, credit and market risk in excess of the amounts recognized in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Such risks involve the possibility that there will be no liquid market for these agreements, that the counterparty to the agreements may default on its obligation to perform or disagree as to the meaning of the contractual terms in the agreements, and that there may be unfavorable changes in interest rates and/or market values associated with these transactions.

 

 

Interest rate swaps — The Fund enters into interest rate swaps to gain or reduce exposure to interest rates or to manage duration, the yield curve or interest rate risk by economically hedging the value of the fixed rate bonds, which may decrease when interest rates rise (interest rate risk). Interest rate swaps are agreements in which one party pays a stream of interest payments, either fixed or floating, for another party’s stream of interest payments, either fixed or floating, on the same notional amount for a specified period of time. In more complex swaps, the notional principal amount may decline (or amortize) over time.

Master Netting Arrangements: In order to better define the Fund’s contractual rights and to secure rights that will help it mitigate its counterparty risk, the Fund may enter into an International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. Master Agreement (“ISDA Master Agreement”) or similar agreement with its counterparties. An ISDA Master Agreement is a bilateral agreement between each Fund and a counterparty that governs certain OTC derivatives and typically contains, among other things, collateral posting terms and netting provisions in the event of a default and/or termination event. Under an ISDA Master Agreement, the Fund may, under certain circumstances, offset with the counterparty certain derivative financial instruments’ payables and/or receivables with collateral held and/or posted and create one single net payment. The provisions of the ISDA Master Agreement typically permit a single net payment in the event of default including the bankruptcy or insolvency of the counterparty. Bankruptcy or insolvency laws of a particular jurisdiction may restrict or prohibit the right of offset in bankruptcy, insolvency or other events. In addition, certain ISDA Master Agreements allow counterparties to terminate derivative contracts prior to maturity in the event the Fund’s net assets decline by a stated percentage or the Fund fails to meet the terms of its ISDA Master Agreements. The result would cause the Fund to accelerate payment of any net liability owed to the counterparty.

Collateral Requirements: For derivatives traded under an ISDA Master Agreement, the collateral requirements are typically calculated by netting the mark-to-market amount for each transaction under such agreement and comparing that amount to the value of any collateral currently pledged by the Fund and the counterparty.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    25


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)     

 

Cash collateral that has been pledged to cover obligations of the Fund and cash collateral received from the counterparty, if any, is reported separately on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as cash pledged as collateral and cash received as collateral, respectively. Non-cash collateral pledged by the Fund, if any, is noted in the Schedule of Investments. Generally, the amount of collateral due from or to a party has to exceed a minimum transfer amount threshold (typically either $250,000 or $500,000) before a transfer is required, which is determined at the close of business of the Fund. Any additional required collateral is delivered to/pledged by the Fund on the next business day. Typically, the Fund’s counterparty is not permitted to sell, re-pledge or use cash and non-cash collateral it receives. The Fund generally agrees not to use non-cash collateral that it receives but may, absent default or certain other circumstances defined in the underlying ISDA Master Agreement, be permitted to use cash collateral received. In such cases, the Fund may pay interest pursuant to the collateral arrangement with the counterparty. To the extent amounts due to the Fund from its counterparties are not fully collateralized, the Fund bears the risk of loss from counterparty non-performance. Likewise, to the extent the Fund has delivered collateral to a counterparty and stands ready to perform under the terms of its agreement with such counterparty, the Fund bears the risk of loss from a counterparty in the amount of the value of the collateral in the event the counterparty fails to return such collateral. Based on the terms of agreements, collateral may not be required to all derivative contracts.

For financial reporting purposes, the Fund does not offset derivative assets and derivative liabilities that are subject to netting arrangements, if any, in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

6. Investment Advisory Agreement and Other Transactions with Affiliates:

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is the largest stockholder and an affiliate of BlackRock, Inc. (“BlackRock”) for 1940 Act purposes.

The Fund entered into an Investment Advisory Agreement with the Manager, the Fund’s investment advisor, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of BlackRock, to provide investment advisory and administration services. The Manager is responsible for the management of the Fund’s portfolio and provides the personnel, facilities, equipment and certain other services necessary to the operations of the Fund. For such services, the Fund pays the Manager a monthly fee at an annual rate of 0.85% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus the proceeds of any outstanding borrowings used for leverage.

Effective October 1, 2015, the Manager voluntarily agreed to waive a portion of its investment advisory fees equal to the annual rate of 0.30% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus the proceeds of any outstanding borrowings used for leverage. Effective July 1, 2015, the Manager voluntarily agreed to waive a portion of its investment advisory fees equal to the annual rate of 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus the proceeds of any outstanding borrowings used for leverage. Prior to July 1, 2015, the Manager voluntarily agreed to waive a portion of its investment advisory fees equal to the annual rate of 0.20% of the Fund’s average daily net assets, plus the proceeds of any borrowings used for leverage. This amount is included in fees waived by Manager in the Statement of Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2015, the Fund waived $355,620.

The Manager voluntarily agreed to waive its investment advisory fees by the amount of investment advisory fees the Fund pays to the Manager indirectly through its investment in affiliated money market funds. These amounts are included in fees waived by the Manager in the Statement of Operations. However, the Manager does not waive its investment advisory fees by the amount of investment advisory fees paid in connection with the Fund’s investments in other affiliated investment companies, if any. For the year ended December 31, 2015, the Manager waived $1,989.

Certain officers and/or directors of the Fund are officers and/or directors of BlackRock or its affiliates. The Fund reimburses the Manager for a portion of the compensation paid to the Fund’s Chief Compliance Officer, which is included in officer and directors in the Statement of Operations.

7. Purchases and Sales:

For the year ended December 31, 2015, purchases and sales of investments, including mortgage dollar rolls and excluding short-term securities, were as follows:

 

     Purchases      Sales  

Non-U.S. Government Securities

  $ 101,167,127       $ 118,017,168

U.S. Government Securities

  $ 59,790,005       $ 86,439,004   
 

 

 

 

Total

  $ 160,957,132       $ 204,456,172   
 

 

 

 

 

  *   Includes paydowns

For the year ended December 31, 2015, purchases and sales related to mortgage dollar rolls were $65,486,944 and $65,415,917, respectively.

 

                
26    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)     

 

8. Income Tax Information:

It is the Fund’s policy to comply with the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, applicable to regulated investment companies, and to distribute substantially all of its taxable income to its shareholders. Therefore, no federal income tax provision is required.

The Fund files U.S. federal and various state and local tax returns. No income tax returns are currently under examination. The statute of limitations on the Fund’s U.S. federal tax returns remains open for each of the four years ended December 31, 2015. The statutes of limitations on the Fund’s state and local tax returns may remain open for an additional year depending upon the jurisdiction.

Management has analyzed tax laws and regulations and their application to the Fund as of December 31, 2015, inclusive of the open tax return years, and does not believe there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability in the Fund’s financial statements.

U.S. GAAP requires that certain components of net assets be adjusted to reflect permanent differences between financial and tax reporting. These reclassifications have no effect on net assets or net asset values per share. As of period end, the following permanent differences attributable to the accounting for swap agreements and net paydown losses were reclassified to the following accounts:

 

Distributions in excess of net investment income

  $ 58,488   

Accumulated net realized loss

  $ (58,488

The tax character of distributions paid was as follows:

 

     12/31/15      12/31/14  

Ordinary income

  $ 3,258,439       $ 3,160,205   

Tax return of capital

    1,618,558         2,622,197   
 

 

 

 

Total

  $ 4,876,997       $ 5,782,402   
 

 

 

 

As of period end, the tax components of accumulated net losses were as follows:

 

Capital loss carryforwards

  $ (21,795,751

Net unrealized gains1

    1,980,289   

Qualified late-year losses2

    (40,328
 

 

 

 

Total

  $ (19,855,790
 

 

 

 

 

  1   

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis net unrealized gains was attributable primarily to the timing of distributions.

 

  2  

The Fund has elected to defer certain qualified late-year losses and recognize such losses in the next taxable year.

As of period end, the Fund had a capital loss carryforward available to offset future realized capital gains through the indicated expiration dates as follows:

 

Expires December 31,       

No expiration date3

  $ 19,758,547   

2017

    2,037,204   
 

 

 

 

Total

  $ 21,795,751   
 

 

 

 
  3  

Must be utilized prior to losses subject to expiration.

As of period end, gross unrealized appreciation and depreciation based on cost for federal income tax purposes were as follows:

 

Tax cost

  $ 133,996,718   
 

 

 

 

Gross unrealized appreciation

  $ 4,221,423   

Gross unrealized depreciation

    (1,691,583
 

 

 

 

Net unrealized appreciation

  $ 2,529,840   
 

 

 

 

9. Principal Risks:

In the normal course of business, the Fund invests in securities and enters into transactions where risks exist due to fluctuations in the market (market risk) or failure of the issuer to meet all its obligations, including the ability to pay principal and interest when due (issuer credit risk). The value of securities held by the Fund may decline in response to certain events, including those directly involving the issuers of securities owned by the Fund. Changes arising from the general economy, the overall market and local, regional or global political or/and social instability, as well as currency, interest rate and price fluctuations, may also affect the securities’ value.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    27


Notes to Financial Statements (continued)     

 

The Fund may be exposed to prepayment risk, which is the risk that borrowers may exercise their option to prepay principal earlier than scheduled during periods of declining interest rates, which would force the Fund to reinvest in lower yielding securities. The Fund may also be exposed to reinvestment risk, which is the risk that income from the Fund’s portfolio will decline if the Fund invests the proceeds from matured, traded or called fixed income securities at market interest rates that are below the Fund portfolio’s current earnings rate.

Counterparty Credit Risk: Similar to issuer credit risk, the Fund may be exposed to counterparty credit risk, or the risk that an entity may fail to or be unable to perform on its commitments related to unsettled or open transactions. The Fund manages counterparty credit risk by entering into transactions only with counterparties that the Manager believes have the financial resources to honor their obligations and by monitoring the financial stability of those counterparties. Financial assets, which potentially expose the Fund to market, issuer and counterparty credit risks, consist principally of financial instruments and receivables due from counterparties. The extent of the Fund’s exposure to market, issuer and counterparty credit risks with respect to these financial assets is approximately their value recorded in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities, less any collateral held by the Fund.

A derivative contract may suffer a mark-to-market loss if the value of the contract decreases due to an unfavorable change in the market rates or values of the underlying instrument. Losses can also occur if the counterparty does not perform under the contract.

The Fund’s risk of loss from counterparty credit risk on OTC derivatives is generally limited to the aggregate unrealized gain less the value of any collateral held by the Fund. For OTC options purchased, the Fund bears the risk of loss of the amount of the premiums paid plus the positive change in market values net of any collateral held by the Fund should the counterparty fail to perform under the contracts. Options written by the Fund do not typically give rise to counterparty credit risk, as options written generally obligate the Fund, and not the counterparty, to perform, though the Fund may be exposed to counterparty credit risk with respect to options written to the extent the Fund deposits collateral with its counterparty to a written option.

With futures and centrally cleared swaps, there is less counterparty credit risk to the Fund since the exchange or clearinghouse, as counterparty to such instruments, guarantees against a possible default. The clearinghouse stands between the buyer and the seller of the contract; therefore, credit risk is limited to failure of the clearinghouse. While offset rights may exist under applicable law, the Fund does not have a contractual right of offset against a clearing broker or clearinghouse in the event of a default (including the bankruptcy or insolvency). Additionally, credit risk exists in exchange-traded futures and centrally cleared swaps with respect to initial and variation margin that is held in a clearing broker’s customer accounts. While clearing brokers are required to segregate customer margin from their own assets, in the event that a clearing broker becomes insolvent or goes into bankruptcy and at that time there is a shortfall in the aggregate amount of margin held by the clearing broker for all its clients, typically the shortfall would be allocated on a pro rata basis across all the clearing broker’s customers, potentially resulting in losses to the Fund.

Concentration Risk:

The Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in fixed-income securities and/or uses derivatives tied to the fixed-income markets. Changes in market interest rates or economic conditions may affect the value and/or liquidity of such investments. Interest rate risk is the risk that prices of bonds and other fixed-income securities will increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates rise. The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates due to the current period of historically low rates.

The Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in securities backed by commercial or residential mortgage loans or in issuers that hold mortgage and other asset-backed securities. Investment percentages in these securities are presented in the Schedule of Investments. Changes in economic conditions, including delinquencies and/or defaults on assets underlying these securities, can affect the value, income and/or liquidity of such positions.

10. Capital Share Transactions:

The Fund is authorized to issue 200 million shares all of which were initially classified as Common Shares. The par value for the Fund’s Common Shares is $0.10. The Board is authorized, however, to reclassify any unissued Common Shares without approval of Common Shareholders.

The Fund will make offers to repurchase between 5% and 25% of its outstanding shares at approximate 12 month intervals. The amount of the repurchase offer is shown as redemptions of shares resulting from a repurchase offer in the Statements of Changes in Net Assets. The Fund may charge a repurchase fee of up to 2% of the value of the shares that are repurchased to compensate the Fund for expenses directly related to the repurchase offer. These fees are included in the capital share transactions in the Statements of Changes in Net Assets. Costs directly related to the purchase offer, primarily mailing and printing costs, are shown as repurchase offer in the Statement of Operations.

 

                
28    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Notes to Financial Statements (concluded)     

 

Changes in Common Shares issued and outstanding for the years ended December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 were as follows:

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
2015
    Year Ended
December 31,
2014
 

Repurchase offer

    (801,873     (890,971

11. Subsequent Events:

Management’s evaluation of the impact of all subsequent events on the Fund’s financial statements was completed through the date the financial statements were issued and the following items were noted:

The Fund paid a net investment income dividend in the amount of $0.049 per share on January 8, 2016 to shareholders of record on December 31, 2015.

Additionally, the Fund declared a net investment income dividend in the amount of $0.049 per share on February 1, 2016 to shareholders of record on February 16, 2016.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    29


Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

 

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc.:

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc. (the “Fund”), including the schedule of investments, as of December 31, 2015, and the related statements of operations and cash flows for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended. These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement. The Fund is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. Our audits included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Fund’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2015, by correspondence with the custodian and brokers; where replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, such financial statements and financial highlights referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc. as of December 31, 2015, the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Deloitte & Touche LLP

Boston, Massachusetts

February 24, 2016

 

Important Tax Information (Unaudited)

During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, the following information is provided with respect to the ordinary income distributions paid by the Fund:

 

     Months Paid         

Interest-Related Dividends for Non-U.S. Residents1

    January - December 2015        100.00%   

Federal Obligation Interest2

    January - December 2015        27.38%   

 

  1   

Represents the portion of the taxable ordinary distributions eligible for exemption from U.S. withholding tax for nonresident aliens and foreign corporations.

 

  2   

The law varies in each state as to whether and what percentage of dividend income attributable to federal obligations is exempt from state income tax. We recommend that you consult your tax advisor to determine if any portion of the dividends you received is exempt from state income taxes.

 

                
30    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Automatic Dividend Reinvestment Plan     

 

Pursuant to the Fund’s Dividend Reinvestment Plan (the “Reinvestment Plan”), Common Shareholders are automatically enrolled to have all distributions of dividends and capital gains reinvested by Computershare Trust Company (the “Reinvestment Plan Agent”) in the Fund’s shares pursuant to the Reinvestment Plan. Shareholders who do not participate in the Reinvestment Plan will receive all distributions in cash paid by check and mailed directly to the shareholders of record (or if the shares are held in street name or other nominee name, then to the nominee) by the Reinvestment Plan Agent, which serves as agent for the shareholders in administering the Reinvestment Plan.

After the Fund declares a dividend or determines to make a capital gain distribution, the Reinvestment Plan Agent will acquire shares for the participants’ accounts, depending upon the following circumstances, either (i) through receipt of unissued but authorized shares from the Fund (“newly issued shares”) or (ii) by purchase of outstanding shares on the open market or on the Fund’s primary exchange (“open-market purchases”). If, on the dividend payment date, the net asset value per share (“NAV”) is equal to or less than the market price per share plus estimated brokerage commissions (such condition often referred to as a “market premium”), the Reinvestment Plan Agent will invest the dividend amount in newly issued shares acquired on behalf of the participants. The number of newly issued shares to be credited to each participant’s account will be determined by dividing the dollar amount of the dividend by the NAV on the date the shares are issued. However, if the NAV is less than 95% of the market price on the dividend payment date, the dollar amount of the dividend will be divided by 95% of the market price on the dividend payment date. If, on the dividend payment date, the NAV is greater than the market price per share plus estimated brokerage commissions (such condition often referred to as a “market discount”), the Reinvestment Plan Agent will invest the dividend amount in shares acquired on behalf of the participants in open-market purchases. If the Reinvestment Plan Agent is unable to invest the full dividend amount in open-market purchases, or if the market discount shifts to a market premium during the purchase period, the Reinvestment Plan Agent will invest any un-invested portion in newly issued shares. Investments in newly issued shares made in this manner would be made pursuant to the same process described above and the date of issue for such newly issued shares will substitute for the dividend payment date.

Participation in the Reinvestment Plan is completely voluntary and may be terminated or resumed at any time without penalty by notice if received and processed by the Reinvestment Plan Agent prior to the dividend record date. Additionally, the Reinvestment Plan Agent seeks to process notices received after the record date but prior to the payable date and such notices often will become effective by the payable date. Where late notices are not processed by the applicable payable date, such termination or resumption will be effective with respect to any subsequently declared dividend or other distribution.

The Reinvestment Plan Agent’s fees for the handling of the reinvestment of dividends and distributions will be paid by the Fund. However, each participant will pay a pro rata share of brokerage commissions incurred with respect to the Reinvestment Plan Agent’s open market purchases in connection with the reinvestment of dividends and distributions. The automatic reinvestment of dividends and distributions will not relieve participants of any federal income tax that may be payable on such dividends or distributions.

The Fund reserves the right to amend or terminate the Reinvestment Plan. There is no direct service charge to participants in the Reinvestment Plan; however, the Fund reserves the right to amend the Reinvestment Plan to include a service charge payable by the participants. Participants that request a sale of shares are subject to a $0.02 per share sold brokerage commission. All correspondence concerning the Reinvestment Plan should be directed to Computershare Trust Company, N.A. through the internet at http://www.computershare.com/blackrock, or in writing to Computershare, P.O. Box 30170, College Station, TX 77842-3170, Telephone: (800) 699-1236. Overnight correspondence should be directed to the Reinvestment Plan Agent at Computershare, 211 Quality Circle, Suite 210, College Station, TX 77845.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    31


Officers and Directors     

 

Name, Address1
and Year of Birth
 

Position(s)

Held with
Fund

  Length
of Time
Served as a
Director3
  Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years   Number of BlackRock-
Advised Registered
Investment Companies
(“RICs”) Consisting of
Investment Portfolios
(“Portfolios”) Overseen4
  Public
Directorships
Independent Directors2               

Richard E. Cavanagh

 

1946

  Chair of the Board and Director  

Since

2007

  Trustee, Aircraft Finance Trust from 1999 to 2009; Director, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America since 1998; Director, Arch Chemical (chemical and allied products) from 1999 to 2011; Trustee, Educational Testing Service from 1997 to 2009 and Chairman thereof from 2005 to 2009; Senior Advisor, The Fremont Group since 2008 and Director thereof since 1996; Faculty Member/Adjunct Lecturer, Harvard University since 2007; President and Chief Executive Officer, The Conference Board, Inc. (global business research organization) from 1995 to 2007.  

75 RICs consisting of

75 Portfolios

  None

Karen P. Robards

 

1950

  Vice Chairperson of the Board, Chairperson of the Audit Committee and Director  

Since

2007

  Partner of Robards & Company, LLC (financial advisory firm) since 1987; Co-founder and Director of the Cooke Center for Learning and Development (a not-for-profit organization) since 1987; Director of Care Investment Trust, Inc. (health care real estate investment trust) from 2007 to 2010; Investment Banker at Morgan Stanley from 1976 to 1987.  

75 RICs consisting of

75 Portfolios

  AtriCure, Inc. (medical devices); Greenhill & Co., Inc.

Michael J. Castellano

 

1946

  Director and Member of the Audit Committee  

Since

2011

  Chief Financial Officer of Lazard Group LLC from 2001 to 2011; Chief Financial Officer of Lazard Ltd from 2004 to 2011; Director, Support Our Aging Religious (non-profit) from 2009 to June 2015; Director, National Advisory Board of Church Management at Villanova University since 2010; Trustee, Domestic Church Media Foundation since 2012; Director, CircleBlack Inc. (financial technology company). since 2015.  

75 RICs consisting of

75 Portfolios

  None

Frank J. Fabozzi4

 

1948

  Director and Member of the Audit Committee  

Since

2007

  Editor of and Consultant for The Journal of Portfolio Management since 2006; Professor of Finance, EDHEC Business School since 2011; Visiting Professor, Princeton University from 2013 to 2014; Professor in the Practice of Finance and Becton Fellow, Yale University School of Management from 2006 to 2011.  

108 RICs consisting of

230 Portfolios

  None

Kathleen F. Feldstein

 

1941

 

Director

 

Since

2007

  President of Economics Studies, Inc. (private economic consulting firm) since 1987; Chair, Board of Trustees, McLean Hospital from 2000 to 2008 and Trustee Emeritus thereof since 2008; Member of the Board of Partners Community Healthcare, Inc. from 2005 to 2009; Member of the Corporation of Partners HealthCare since 1995; Trustee, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston since 1992; Member of the Visiting Committee to the Harvard University Art Museum since 2003; Director, Catholic Charities of Boston since 2009.  

75 RICs consisting of

75 Portfolios

  The McClatchy Company (publishing)

James T. Flynn

 

1939

  Director and Member of the Audit Committee  

Since

2007

  Chief Financial Officer of JPMorgan & Co., Inc. from 1990 to 1995.  

75 RICs consisting of

75 Portfolios

  None

Jerrold B. Harris

 

1942

 

Director

 

Since

2007

  Trustee, Ursinus College from 2000 to 2012; Director, Waterfowl Chesapeake (conservation) since 2014; Director, Ducks Unlimited, Inc. (conservation) since 2013; Director, Troemner LLC (scientific equipment) since 2000; Director of Delta Waterfowl Foundation from 2010 to 2012; President and Chief Executive Officer, VWR Scientific Products Corporation from 1990 to 1999.  

75 RICs consisting of

75 Portfolios

  BlackRock Capital Investment Corp. (business development company)

 

                
32    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Officers and Directors (continued)     

 

Name, Address1
and Year of Birth
 

Position(s)

Held with
Fund

  Length
of Time
Served as a
Director3
  Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years   Number of BlackRock-
Advised Registered
Investment Companies
(“RICs”) Consisting of
Investment Portfolios
(“Portfolios”) Overseen4
  Public
Directorships
Independent Directors2 (concluded)               

R. Glenn Hubbard

 

1958

 

Director

  Since
2007
  Dean, Columbia Business School since 2004; Faculty member, Columbia Business School since 1988.  

75 RICs consisting of

75 Portfolios

  ADP (data and information services); Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (insurance)

W. Carl Kester

 

1951

  Director and Member of the Audit Committee  

Since

2007

  George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School since 2008, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs from 2006 to 2010, Chairman of the Finance Unit, from 2005 to 2006, Senior Associate Dean and Chairman of the MBA Program from 1999 to 2005; Member of the faculty of Harvard Business School since 1981.  

75 RICs consisting of

75 Portfolios

  None
 

1    The address of each Director is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 55 East 52nd Street, New York, NY 10055.

 

2    Independent Directors serve until their resignation, retirement, removal or death, or until December 31 of the year in which they turn 74. The maximum age limitation may be waived as to any Director by action of a majority of the Directors upon finding of good cause thereof. The Board of Directors has unanimously approved further extending the mandatory retirement age for Mr. James T. Flynn until December 31, 2015, which the Board of Directors believes is in the best interest of shareholders.

 

3    Date shown is the earliest date a person has served for the Funds in the Closed-End Complex. Following the combination of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, L.P. (“MLIM”) and BlackRock Inc. (“BlackRock”) in September 2006, the various legacy MLIM and legacy BlackRock fund boards were realigned and consolidated into three new fund boards in 2007. As a result, although the chart shows certain Directors as joining the Fund’s board in 2007, those Directors first became members of the boards of other legacy MLIM or legacy BlackRock funds as follows: Richard E. Cavanagh, 1994; Frank J. Fabozzi, 1988; Kathleen F. Feldstein, 2005; James T. Flynn, 1996; Jerrold B. Harris, 1999; R. Glenn Hubbard, 2004; W. Carl Kester, 1995 and Karen P. Robards, 1998.

 

4    For purposes of this chart, “RICs” refers to investment companies registered under the 1940 Act and “Portfolios” refers to the investment programs of the BlackRock-advised funds. The Closed-End Complex is comprised of 75 RICs. Mr. Perlowski, Dr. Fabozzi and Ms. Novick are also board members of a complex of BlackRock registered open-end funds. Mr. Perlowski is also a board member of the BlackRock Equity-Bond Complex and Equity-Liquidity Complex, and Ms. Novick and Dr. Fabozzi are also board members of the BlackRock Equity-Liquidity Complex.

Interested Directors5               

Barbara G. Novick

 

1960

 

Director

 

Since

2014

  Vice Chairman of BlackRock since 2006; Chair of BlackRock’s Government Relations Steering Committee since 2009; Head of the Global Client Group of BlackRock, Inc. from 1988 to 2008.   108 RICs consisting of 230 Portfolios   None

John M. Perlowski

 

1964

  Director, President and Chief Executive Officer  

Since 2011 (Director);
Since 2015 (President and Chief Executive Officer)

  Managing Director of BlackRock since 2009; Head of BlackRock Global Fund Services since 2009; Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Product Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. from 2003 to 2009; Treasurer of Goldman Sachs Mutual Funds from 2003 to 2009 and Senior Vice President thereof from 2007 to 2009; Director of Goldman Sachs Offshore Funds from 2002 to 2009; Director of Family Resource Network (charitable foundation) since 2009.   136 RICs consisting of 328 Portfolios   None
 

5    Mr. Perlowski and Ms. Novick are both “interested persons,” as defined in the 1940 Act, of the Corporation based on their positions with BlackRock and its affiliate. Mr. Perlowski and Ms. Novick are also board members of a complex of BlackRock registered open-end funds. Mr. Perlowski is also a board member of the BlackRock Equity-Bond Complex and the BlackRock Equity-Liquidity Complex, and Ms. Novick is a board member of the BlackRock Equity-Liquidity Complex. Interested Directors serve until their resignation, removal or death, or until December 31 of the year in which they turn 72. The maximum age limitation may be waived as to any Director by action of a majority of the Directors upon a finding of good cause thereof.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    33


Officers and Directors (concluded)     

 

 

Name, Address1
and Year of Birth
  Position(s)
Held with
the Fund
  Length of
Time Served
as an Officer
  Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years
Officers2               

John M. Perlowski

 

1964

  Director, President and Chief Executive Officer  

Since 2011 (Director);
Since 2015 (President and Chief Executive Officer)

  Managing Director of BlackRock since 2009; Head of BlackRock Global Fund Services since 2009; Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Product Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. from 2003 to 2009; Treasurer of Goldman Sachs Mutual Funds from 2003 to 2009 and Senior Vice President thereof from 2007 to 2009; Director of Goldman Sachs Offshore Funds from 2002 to 2009; Director of Family Resource Network (charitable foundation) since 2009.

Jonathan Diorio

 

1980

  Vice President   Since
2015
  Managing Director of BlackRock, since 2015; Director of BlackRock, Inc. from 2011 to 2015; Director of Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management from 2009 to 2011.

Neal Andrews

 

1966

  Chief Financial Officer   Since
2007
  Managing Director of BlackRock since 2006; Senior Vice President and Line of Business Head of Fund Accounting and Administration at PNC Global Investment Servicing (U.S.) Inc. from 1992 to 2006.

Jay Fife

 

1970

  Treasurer   Since
2007
  Managing Director of BlackRock since 2007; Director of BlackRock in 2006; Assistant Treasurer of the MLIM and Fund Asset Management, L.P. advised funds from 2005 to 2006; Director of MLIM Fund Services Group from 2001 to 2006.

Charles Park

 

1967

  Chief Compliance Officer   Since
2014
  Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer for the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Equity-Bond Complex, the Equity-Liquidity Complex and the Closed-End Complex from 2014 to 2015; Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Equity-Bond Complex, the Equity-Liquidity Complex and the Closed-End Complex since 2014; Principal of and Chief Compliance Officer for iShares® Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC since 2012 and BlackRock Fund Advisors (“BFA”) since 2006; Chief Compliance Officer for the BFA-advised iShares exchange traded funds since 2006; Chief Compliance Officer for BlackRock Asset Management International Inc. since 2012.

Janey Ahn

 

1975

  Secretary   Since
2012
  Director of BlackRock since 2009; Vice President of BlackRock from 2008 to 2009; Assistant Secretary of the Funds from 2008 to 2012.
 

1    The address of each Officer is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 55 East 52nd Street, New York, NY 10055.

   

2    Officers of the Fund serve at the pleasure of the Board.

 

Effective September 18, 2015, Robert W. Crothers resigned as a Vice President of the Fund and Jonathan Diorio became a Vice President of the Fund.

Effective December 31, 2015, Kathleen F. Feldstein and James T. Flynn retired as Directors of the Fund.

 

       

Investment Advisor

BlackRock Advisors, LLC

Wilmington, DE 19809

 

Accounting Agent and Custodian

State Street Bank and Trust Company

Boston, MA 02110

 

Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Deloitte & Touche LLP

Boston, MA 02116

 

Address of the Fund

100 Bellevue Parkway

Wilmington, DE 19809

 

Transfer Agent

Computershare Trust Company, N.A.

Canton, MA 02021

 

Legal Counsel

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Boston, MA 02116

 

 

                
34    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Additional Information     

 

Fund Certification

The Fund is listed for trading on the NYSE and has filed with the NYSE its annual chief executive officer certification regarding compliance with the NYSE’s listing standards. The Fund filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) the certification of its chief executive officer and chief financial officer required by section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

 

Proxy Results

The Annual Meeting of Shareholders was held on July 29, 2015 for shareholders of record on June 1, 2015 to elect director nominees for BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc. There were no broker non-votes with regard to the Fund.

 

           Votes For      Votes Withheld      Abstain  
Approved the Directors as follows:   Michael J. Castellano      5,161,567         2,388,807         0   
  Richard E. Cavanagh      5,164,615         2,385,759         0   
  Frank J. Fabozzi      5,177,089         2,373,285         0   
  Kathleen F. Feldstein      5,165,248         2,385,126         0   
  James T. Flynn      5,167,124         2,383,250         0   
  Jerrold B. Harris      5,176,789         2,373,585         0   
  R. Glenn Hubbard      5,050,937         2,499,437         0   
  W. Carl Kester      5,050,937         2,499,437         0   
  Barbara G. Novick      5,174,918         2,375,456         0   
  John M. Perlowski      5,177,089         2,373,285         0   
    Karen P. Robards      5,174,918         2,375,456         0   

 

General Information

The Fund does not make available copies of its Statement of Additional Information because the Fund’s shares are not continuously offered, which means that the Statement of Additional Information of the Fund has not been updated after completion of the Fund’s offerings and the information contained in the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information may have become outdated.

During the period, there were no material changes in the Fund’s investment objectives or policies or to the Fund’s charter or by-laws that would delay or prevent a change of control of the Fund that were not approved by the shareholders or in the principal risk factors associated with investment in the Fund. There have been no changes in the persons who are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund’s portfolio.

Quarterly performance, semi-annual and annual reports, current net asset value and other information regarding the Fund may be found on BlackRock’s website, which can be accessed at http://www.blackrock.com. This reference to BlackRock’s website is intended to allow investors public access to information regarding the Fund and does not, and is not intended to, incorporate BlackRock’s website into this report.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    35


Additional Information (continued)     

 

General Information (concluded)

Electronic Delivery

Shareholders can sign up for e-mail notifications of quarterly statements, annual and semi-annual shareholder reports by enrolling in the electronic delivery program. Electronic copies of shareholder reports are available on BlackRock’s website.

To enroll in electronic delivery:

Shareholders Who Hold Accounts with Investment Advisors, Banks or Brokerages:

Please contact your financial advisor. Please note that not all investment advisors, banks or brokerages may offer this service.

Householding

The Fund will mail only one copy of shareholder documents, including annual and semi-annual reports and proxy statements, to shareholders with multiple accounts at the same address. This practice is commonly called “householding” and is intended to reduce expenses and eliminate duplicate mailings of shareholder documents. Mailings of your shareholder documents may be householded indefinitely unless you instruct us otherwise. If you do not want the mailing of these documents to be combined with those for other members of your household, please call (800) 882-0052.

Availability of Quarterly Schedule of Investments

The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. The Fund’s Forms N-Q are available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov and may also be reviewed and copied at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. Information on how to access documents on the SEC’s website without charge may be obtained by calling (800) SEC-0330. The Fund’s Forms N-Q may also be obtained upon request and without charge by calling (800) 882-0052.

Availability of Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available upon request and without charge (1) by calling (800) 882-0052; (2) at http://www.blackrock.com; and (3) on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

Availability of Proxy Voting Record

Information about how the Fund voted proxies relating to securities held in the Fund’s portfolio during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available upon request and without charge (1) at http://www.blackrock.com or by calling (800) 882-0052 and (2) on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

Availability of Fund Updates

BlackRock will update performance and certain other data for the Fund on a monthly basis on its website in the “Closed-end Funds” section of http://www.blackrock.com as well as certain other material information as necessary from time to time. Investors and others are advised to check the website for updated performance information and the release of other material information about the Fund. This reference to BlackRock’s website is intended to allow investors public access to information regarding the Fund and does not, and is not intended to, incorporate BlackRock’s website in this report.

 

Fundamental Periodic Repurchase Policy

The Fund has adopted an “interval fund” structure pursuant to Rule 23c-3 under the 1940 Act as a fundamental policy. As an interval fund, the Fund will make annual repurchase offers at net asset value (less a repurchase fee not to exceed 2%) to all Fund shareholders. The percentage of outstanding shares that the Fund can repurchase in each offer will be established by the Fund’s Board shortly before the commencement of each offer, and will be between 5% and 25% of the Fund’s then outstanding shares.

 

                
36    BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015   


Additional Information (concluded)     

 

Fundamental Periodic Repurchase Policy (concluded)

The Fund has adopted the following fundamental policies regarding periodic repurchases:

 

(a) The Fund will make repurchase offers at periodic intervals pursuant to Rule 23c-3 under the 1940 Act.

 

(b) The periodic interval between repurchase request deadlines will be approximately 12 months.

 

(c)

The maximum number of days between a repurchase request deadline and the next repurchase pricing date will be 14 days; provided that if the 14th day after a repurchase request deadline is not a business day, the repurchase pricing date shall be the next business day.

The Board may place such conditions and limitations on a repurchase offer as may be permitted under Rule 23c-3. Repurchase offers may be suspended or postponed under certain circumstances, as provided in Rule 23c-3.

During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, the Fund conducted a repurchase offer for up to 10% of its outstanding shares, pursuant to Rule 23c-3 under the 1940 Act, as summarized in the following table:

 

Number of
Repurchase Offers
    Number of
Shares Repurchased
    Number of
Shares Tendered
 
  1        801,873        5,291,704   

Because the repurchase offer was oversubscribed, the Fund repurchased shares on a pro rata basis except with regard to shareholders who owned less than 100 shares and tendered all of their shares, which were purchased in their entirety.

 

BlackRock Privacy Principles

BlackRock is committed to maintaining the privacy of its current and former fund investors and individual clients (collectively, “Clients”) and to safeguarding their non-public personal information. The following information is provided to help you understand what personal information BlackRock collects, how we protect that information and why in certain cases we share such information with select parties.

If you are located in a jurisdiction where specific laws, rules or regulations require BlackRock to provide you with additional or different privacy-related rights beyond what is set forth below, then BlackRock will comply with those specific laws, rules or regulations.

BlackRock obtains or verifies personal non-public information from and about you from different sources, including the following: (i) information we receive from you or, if applicable, your financial intermediary, on applications, forms or other documents; (ii) information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others; (iii) information we receive from a consumer reporting agency; and (iv) from visits to our websites.

BlackRock does not sell or disclose to non-affiliated third parties any non-public personal information about its Clients, except as permitted by law or as is necessary to respond to regulatory requests or to service Client accounts. These non-affiliated third parties are required to protect the confidentiality and security of this information and to use it only for its intended purpose.

We may share information with our affiliates to service your account or to provide you with information about other BlackRock products or services that may be of interest to you. In addition, BlackRock restricts access to non-public personal information about its Clients to those BlackRock employees with a legitimate business need for the information. BlackRock maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that are designed to protect the non-public personal information of its Clients, including procedures relating to the proper storage and disposal of such information.

 

                
   BLACKROCK ENHANCED GOVERNMENT FUND, INC.    DECEMBER 31, 2015    37


This report is intended for current holders. It is not a prospectus. Past performance results shown in this report should not be considered a representation of future performance. The Fund has leveraged its Common Shares, which creates risks for Common Shareholders, including the likelihood of greater volatility of net asset value and market price of the Common Shares, and the risk that fluctuations in short-term interest rates may reduce the Common Shares’ yield. Statements and other information herein are as dated and are subject to change.

LOGO

 

EGF-12/15-AR  
  LOGO


Item 2 – Code of Ethics – The registrant (or the “Fund”) has adopted a code of ethics, as of the end of the period covered by this report, applicable to the registrant’s principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions. During the period covered by this report, the code of ethics was amended to update certain information and to make other non-material changes. During the period covered by this report, there have been no waivers granted under the code of ethics. The registrant undertakes to provide a copy of the code of ethics to any person upon request, without charge, by calling 1-800-882-0052, option 4.

 

Item 3 – Audit Committee Financial Expert – The registrant’s board of directors (the “board of directors”), has determined that (i) the registrant has the following audit committee financial experts serving on its audit committee and (ii) each audit committee financial expert is independent:

Michael Castellano

Frank J. Fabozzi

James T. Flynn

W. Carl Kester

Karen P. Robards

The registrant’s board of directors has determined that W. Carl Kester and Karen P. Robards qualify as financial experts pursuant to Item 3(c)(4) of Form N-CSR.

Prof. Kester has a thorough understanding of generally accepted accounting principles, financial statements and internal control over financial reporting as well as audit committee functions. Prof. Kester has been involved in providing valuation and other financial consulting services to corporate clients since 1978. Prof. Kester’s financial consulting services present a breadth and level of complexity of accounting issues that are generally comparable to the breadth and complexity of issues that can reasonably be expected to be raised by the registrant’s financial statements.

Ms. Robards has a thorough understanding of generally accepted accounting principles, financial statements and internal control over financial reporting as well as audit committee functions. Ms. Robards has been President of Robards & Company, a financial advisory firm, since 1987. Ms. Robards was formerly an investment banker for more than 10 years where she was responsible for evaluating and assessing the performance of companies based on their financial results. Ms. Robards has over 30 years of experience analyzing financial statements. She also is a member of the audit committee of one publicly held company and a non-profit organization.

Under applicable securities laws, a person determined to be an audit committee financial expert will not be deemed an “expert” for any purpose, including without limitation for the purposes of Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933, as a result of being designated or identified as an audit committee financial expert. The designation or identification as an audit committee financial expert does not impose on such person any duties, obligations, or liabilities greater than the duties, obligations, and liabilities imposed on such person as a member of the audit committee and board of directors in the absence of such designation or identification. The designation or identification of a person as an audit committee financial expert does not affect the duties, obligations, or liability of any other member of the audit committee or board of directors.

 

2


  Item 4 – Principal Accountant Fees and Services

The following table presents fees billed by Deloitte & Touche LLP (“D&T”) in each of the last two fiscal years for the services rendered to the Fund:

 

      (a) Audit Fees    (b) Audit-Related Fees1    (c) Tax Fees2    (d) All Other  Fees3
Entity Name    Current
Fiscal Year
End
         Previous
Fiscal Year
End
         Current
Fiscal Year
End
         Previous
Fiscal Year
End
         Current
Fiscal Year
End
         Previous
Fiscal Year
End
         Current
Fiscal Year
End
         Previous
Fiscal Year
End

BlackRock

Enhanced

Government Fund,

Inc.

   $40,738         $38,317         $0         $0         $11,016         $10,800         $0         $0

The following table presents fees billed by D&T that were required to be approved by the registrant’s audit committee (the “Committee”) for services that relate directly to the operations or financial reporting of the Fund and that are rendered on behalf of BlackRock Advisors, LLC (“Investment Adviser” or “BlackRock”) and entities controlling, controlled by, or under common control with BlackRock (not including any sub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser) that provide ongoing services to the Fund (“Fund Service Providers”):

 

      Current Fiscal Year End    Previous Fiscal Year End

(b) Audit-Related Fees1

   $0    $0

(c) Tax Fees2

   $0    $0

(d) All Other Fees3

   $2,391,000    $2,555,000

1 The nature of the services includes assurance and related services reasonably related to the performance of the audit of financial statements not included in Audit Fees.

2 The nature of the services includes tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning.

3 Aggregate fees borne by BlackRock in connection with the review of compliance procedures and attestation thereto performed by D&T with respect to all of the registered closed-end funds and some of the registered open-end funds advised by BlackRock.

  (e)(1) Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures:

The Committee has adopted policies and procedures with regard to the pre-approval of services. Audit, audit-related and tax compliance services provided to the registrant on an annual basis require specific pre-approval by the Committee. The Committee also must approve other non-audit services provided to the registrant and those non-audit services provided to the Investment Adviser and Fund Service Providers that relate directly to the operations and the financial reporting of the registrant. Certain of these non-audit services that the Committee believes are (a) consistent with the SEC’s auditor independence rules and (b) routine and recurring services that will not impair the independence of the independent accountants may be approved by the Committee without consideration on a specific case-by-case basis (“general pre-approval”). The term of any general pre-approval is 12 months from the date of the pre-approval, unless the Committee provides for a different period. Tax or other non-audit services provided to the registrant which have a direct impact on the operations or financial reporting of the registrant will only be deemed pre-approved provided that any individual project does not exceed $10,000 attributable to the registrant or $50,000 per project. For this purpose, multiple projects will be aggregated to determine if they exceed the previously mentioned cost levels.

 

3


Any proposed services exceeding the pre-approved cost levels will require specific pre-approval by the Committee, as will any other services not subject to general pre-approval (e.g., unanticipated but permissible services). The Committee is informed of each service approved subject to general pre-approval at the next regularly scheduled in-person board meeting. At this meeting, an analysis of such services is presented to the Committee for ratification. The Committee may delegate to the Committee Chairman the authority to approve the provision of and fees for any specific engagement of permitted non-audit services, including services exceeding pre-approved cost levels.

(e)(2) None of the services described in each of Items 4(b) through (d) were approved by the Committee pursuant to the de minimis exception in paragraph (c)(7)(i)(C) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.

(f) Not Applicable

(g) The aggregate non-audit fees paid to the accountant for services rendered by the accountant to the registrant, the Investment Adviser and the Fund Service Providers were:

 

     Entity Name   

Current Fiscal Year

End

  

Previous Fiscal Year

End

 

BlackRock Enhanced

Government Fund, Inc.

   $11,016    $10,800

Additionally, SSAE 16 Review (Formerly, SAS No. 70) fees for the current and previous fiscal years of $2,391,000 and $2,555,000, respectively, were billed by D&T to the Investment Adviser.

(h) The Committee has considered and determined that the provision of non-audit services that were rendered to the Investment Adviser, and the Fund Service Providers that were not pre-approved pursuant to paragraph (c)(7)(ii) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X is compatible with maintaining the principal accountant’s independence.

 

Item 5 – Audit Committee of Listed Registrants

 

  (a) The following individuals are members of the registrant’s separately-designated standing audit committee established in accordance with Section 3(a)(58)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(58)(A)):

Michael Castellano

Frank J. Fabozzi

James T. Flynn

W. Carl Kester

Karen P. Robards

 

  (b) Not Applicable

 

Item 6 – Investments

(a) The registrant’s Schedule of Investments is included as part of the Report to Stockholders filed under Item 1 of this Form.

 

4


(b) Not Applicable due to no such divestments during the semi-annual period covered since the previous Form N-CSR filing.

 

Item 7 – Disclosure of Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures for Closed-End Management Investment Companies – The board of directors has delegated the voting of proxies for the Fund’s portfolio securities to the Investment Adviser pursuant to the Investment Adviser’s proxy voting guidelines. Under these guidelines, the Investment Adviser will vote proxies related to Fund securities in the best interests of the Fund and its stockholders. From time to time, a vote may present a conflict between the interests of the Fund’s stockholders, on the one hand, and those of the Investment Adviser, or any affiliated person of the Fund or the Investment Adviser, on the other. In such event, provided that the Investment Adviser’s Equity Investment Policy Oversight Committee, or a sub-committee thereof (the “Oversight Committee”) is aware of the real or potential conflict or material non-routine matter and if the Oversight Committee does not reasonably believe it is able to follow its general voting guidelines (or if the particular proxy matter is not addressed in the guidelines) and vote impartially, the Oversight Committee may retain an independent fiduciary to advise the Oversight Committee on how to vote or to cast votes on behalf of the Investment Adviser’s clients. If the Investment Adviser determines not to retain an independent fiduciary, or does not desire to follow the advice of such independent fiduciary, the Oversight Committee shall determine how to vote the proxy after consulting with the Investment Adviser’s Portfolio Management Group and/or the Investment Adviser’s Legal and Compliance Department and concluding that the vote cast is in its client’s best interest notwithstanding the conflict. A copy of the Fund’s Proxy Voting Policy and Procedures are attached as Exhibit 99.PROXYPOL. Information on how the Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available without charge, (i) at www.blackrock.com and (ii) on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

 

Item 8 – Portfolio Managers of Closed-End Management Investment Companies – as of December 31, 2015.

 

  (a)(1) The registrant is managed by a team of investment professionals comprised of Stuart Spodek, Managing Director at BlackRock and Thomas Musmanno, CFA, Managing Director at BlackRock. Messrs. Spodek and Musmanno are the Fund’s portfolio managers and are responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund’s portfolio and the selection of its investments. Messrs. Spodek and Musmanno have been members of the registrant’s portfolio management team since 2006 and 2009, respectively.

 

  Portfolio Manager    Biography
  Stuart Spodek    Managing Director of BlackRock since 2002; Co-head of US Fixed Income within BlackRock’s Fixed Income Portfolio Management Group since 2007.
  Thomas Musmanno, CFA    Managing Director of BlackRock since 2010; Director of BlackRock from 2006 to 2009.

 

5


  (a)(2) As of December 31, 2015:

 

         

(ii) Number of Other Accounts Managed

and Assets by Account Type

  

(iii) Number of Other Accounts and

Assets for Which Advisory Fee is

Performance-Based

 

(i) Name of

Portfolio Manager

  

Other

Registered

Investment

    Companies    

  

Other Pooled

Investment

      Vehicles      

  

Other

      Accounts      

  

Other

Registered

Investment

    Companies    

  

Other Pooled

Investment

      Vehicles      

  

Other

      Accounts      

 

Stuart Spodek

   0    6    3    0    1    1
     $0    $1.93 Billion    $3.13 Billion    $0    $1.62 Billion    $79.75 Million
 

Thomas Musmanno, CFA

   11    14    139    0    1    0
       $11.85 Billion    $4.79 Billion    $51.52 Billion    $0    $1.62 Billion    $0

 

  (iv) Portfolio Manager Potential Material Conflicts of Interest

BlackRock has built a professional working environment, firm-wide compliance culture and compliance procedures and systems designed to protect against potential incentives that may favor one account over another. BlackRock has adopted policies and procedures that address the allocation of investment opportunities, execution of portfolio transactions, personal trading by employees and other potential conflicts of interest that are designed to ensure that all client accounts are treated equitably over time. Nevertheless, BlackRock furnishes investment management and advisory services to numerous clients in addition to the Fund, and BlackRock may, consistent with applicable law, make investment recommendations to other clients or accounts (including accounts which are hedge funds or have performance or higher fees paid to BlackRock, or in which portfolio managers have a personal interest in the receipt of such fees), which may be the same as or different from those made to the Fund. In addition, BlackRock, Inc., its affiliates and significant shareholders and any officer, director, shareholder or employee may or may not have an interest in the securities whose purchase and sale BlackRock recommends to the Fund. BlackRock, Inc., or any of its affiliates or significant shareholders, or any officer, director, shareholder, employee or any member of their families may take different actions than those recommended to the Fund by BlackRock with respect to the same securities. Moreover, BlackRock may refrain from rendering any advice or services concerning securities of companies of which any of BlackRock, Inc.’s (or its affiliates’ or significant shareholders’) officers, directors or employees are directors or officers, or companies as to which BlackRock, Inc. or any of its affiliates or significant shareholders or the officers, directors and employees of any of them has any substantial economic interest or possesses material non-public information. Certain portfolio managers also may manage accounts whose investment strategies may at times be opposed to the strategy utilized for a fund.    It should also be noted that Messrs. Musmanno and Spodek may be managing certain hedge fund and/or long only accounts, or may be part of a team managing certain hedge fund and/or long only accounts, subject to incentive fees. Messrs. Musmanno and Spodek may therefore be entitled to receive a portion of any incentive fees earned on such accounts.

As a fiduciary, BlackRock owes a duty of loyalty to its clients and must treat each client fairly. When BlackRock purchases or sells securities for more than one account, the trades must be allocated in a manner consistent with its fiduciary duties. BlackRock attempts to allocate investments in a fair and equitable manner among client accounts, with no account receiving preferential treatment. To this end, BlackRock, Inc. has adopted policies that are intended to ensure reasonable efficiency in client transactions and provide BlackRock with sufficient flexibility to allocate investments in a manner that is consistent with the particular investment discipline and client base, as appropriate.

 

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  (a)(3) As of December 31, 2015:

Portfolio Manager Compensation Overview

The discussion below describes the portfolio managers’ compensation as of December 31, 2015.

BlackRock’s financial arrangements with its portfolio managers, its competitive compensation and its career path emphasis at all levels reflect the value senior management places on key resources. Compensation may include a variety of components and may vary from year to year based on a number of factors. The principal components of compensation include a base salary, a performance-based discretionary bonus, participation in various benefits programs and one or more of the incentive compensation programs established by BlackRock.

Base Compensation. Generally, portfolio managers receive base compensation based on their position with the firm.

Discretionary Incentive Compensation

Discretionary incentive compensation is a function of several components: the performance of BlackRock, Inc., the performance of the portfolio manager’s group within BlackRock, the investment performance, including risk-adjusted returns, of the firm’s assets under management or supervision by that portfolio manager relative to predetermined benchmarks, and the individual’s performance and contribution to the overall performance of these portfolios and BlackRock. In most cases, these benchmarks are the same as the benchmark or benchmarks against which the performance of the Funds or other accounts managed by the portfolio managers are measured. Among other things, BlackRock’s Chief Investment Officers make a subjective determination with respect to each portfolio manager’s compensation based on the performance of the Funds and other accounts managed by each portfolio manager relative to the various benchmarks. Performance of fixed income funds is measured on a pre-tax and/or after-tax basis over various time periods including 1-, 3- and 5- year periods, as applicable. With respect to these portfolio managers, such benchmarks for the Fund and other accounts are:

 

  Portfolio Manager  

Applicable Benchmarks

  Thomas Musmanno, CFA       A combination of market-based indices (e.g., Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. Corporate & Government Index, 1-3 Years), certain customized indices and certain fund industry peer groups.
  Stuart Spodek   A combination of market-based indices (e.g., CitiGroup Government / Mortgage Index), certain customized indices and certain fund industry peer groups.

Distribution of Discretionary Incentive Compensation. Discretionary incentive compensation is distributed to portfolio managers in a combination of cash and BlackRock, Inc. restricted stock units which vest ratably over a number of years. For some portfolio managers, discretionary incentive compensation is also distributed in deferred cash awards that notionally track the returns of select BlackRock investment products they manage and that vest ratably over a number of years. The BlackRock, Inc. restricted stock units, upon vesting, will be settled in BlackRock, Inc. common stock. Typically, the cash portion of the discretionary incentive compensation, when combined with base salary, represents more than 60% of total compensation for

 

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the portfolio managers. Paying a portion of discretionary incentive compensation in BlackRock, Inc. stock puts compensation earned by a portfolio manager for a given year “at risk” based on BlackRock’s ability to sustain and improve its performance over future periods. Providing a portion of discretionary incentive compensation in deferred cash awards that notionally track the BlackRock investment products they manage provides direct alignment with investment product results.

Long-Term Incentive Plan Awards — From time to time long-term incentive equity awards are granted to certain key employees to aid in retention, align their interests with long-term shareholder interests and motivate performance. Equity awards are generally granted in the form of BlackRock, Inc. restricted stock units that, once vested, settle in BlackRock, Inc. common stock. The portfolio managers of this Fund have unvested long-term incentive awards.

Deferred Compensation Program — A portion of the compensation paid to eligible United States-based BlackRock employees may be voluntarily deferred at their election for defined periods of time into an account that tracks the performance of certain of the firm’s investment products. Any portfolio manager who is either a managing director or director at BlackRock with compensation above a specified threshold is eligible to participate in the deferred compensation program.

Other Compensation Benefits. In addition to base salary and discretionary incentive compensation, portfolio managers may be eligible to receive or participate in one or more of the following:

Incentive Savings Plans — BlackRock, Inc. has created a variety of incentive savings plans in which BlackRock employees are eligible to participate, including a 401(k) plan, the BlackRock Retirement Savings Plan (RSP), and the BlackRock Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). The employer contribution components of the RSP include a company match equal to 50% of the first 8% of eligible pay contributed to the plan capped at $5,000 per year, and a company retirement contribution equal to 3-5% of eligible compensation up to the Internal Revenue Service limit ($265,000 for 2015). The RSP offers a range of investment options, including registered investment companies and collective investment funds managed by the firm. BlackRock, Inc. contributions follow the investment direction set by participants for their own contributions or, absent participant investment direction, are invested into a target date fund that corresponds to, or is closest to, the year in which the participant attains age 65. The ESPP allows for investment in BlackRock, Inc. common stock at a 5% discount on the fair market value of the stock on the purchase date. Annual participation in the ESPP is limited to the purchase of 1,000 shares of common stock or a dollar value of $25,000 based on its fair market value on the purchase date. All of the eligible portfolio managers are eligible to participate in these plans.

 

  (a)(4) Beneficial Ownership of Securities – As of December 31, 2015.

 

Portfolio Manager    Dollar Range of Equity Securities of the Fund Beneficially Owned
Stuart Spodek    None
Thomas Musmanno, CFA    None

 

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(b) Not Applicable

 

Item 9 – Purchases of Equity Securities by Closed-End Management Investment Company and Affiliated Purchasers

 

     Period                                           (a) Total
Number
 of  
Shares
Purchased
   (b) Average
Price Paid per
  
Share
  

(c) Total Number of

Shares Purchased as Part  
of Publicly  Announced
Plans
 or Programs

  

(d) Maximum Number of

Shares that May Yet Be

Purchased Under the Plans  

or Programs

   

July 1-31, 2014

   N/A    N/A    N/A    N/A
   

August 1-31, 2014

   N/A    N/A    N/A    N/A
   

September 1-30, 2014

   N/A    N/A    N/A    N/A
   

October 1-31, 2014

   N/A    N/A    N/A    N/A
   

November 1-30, 2014

   N/A    N/A    N/A    N/A
   

December 1-31, 2014

   890,971    $15.011    890,9712    0
   

Total:

   890,971    $15.011    890,9712    0

1 Subject to a repurchase fee of 2% of the net asset value per share.

2 On October 10, 2014, the repurchase offer was announced to repurchase up to 10% of outstanding shares. The expiration date of the offer was November 18, 2014. The registrant may conduct annual repurchases for between 5% and 25% of its outstanding shares pursuant to Rule 23c-3 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.

 

Item 10 –  Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders – There have been no material changes to these procedures.

 

Item 11 –  Controls and Procedures

(a) – The registrant’s principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, have concluded that the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”)) are effective as of a date within 90 days of the filing of this report based on the evaluation of these controls and procedures required by Rule 30a-3(b) under the 1940 Act and Rule 13a-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

(b) – There were no changes in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the 1940 Act) that occurred during the second fiscal quarter of the period covered by this report that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

Item 12 –  Exhibits attached hereto

(a)(1) – Code of Ethics – See Item 2

(a)(2) – Certifications – Attached hereto

(a)(3) – Not Applicable

(b) – Certifications – Attached hereto

 

9


(c) – Notices to the registrant’s common shareholders in accordance with the order under Section 6(c) of the 1940 Act granting an exemption from Section 19(b) of the 1940 Act and Rule 19b-1 under the 1940 Act, dated May 9, 20091

 

                                                             

1 The Fund has received exemptive relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission permitting it to make periodic distributions of long-term capital gains with respect to its outstanding common stock as frequently as twelve times each year, and as frequently as distributions are specified by or in accordance with the terms of its outstanding preferred stock. This relief is conditioned, in part, on an undertaking by the Fund to make the disclosures to the holders of the Fund’s common shares, in addition to the information required by Section 19(a) of the 1940 Act and Rule 19a-1 thereunder. The Fund is likewise obligated to file with the SEC the information contained in any such notice to shareholders and, in that regard, has attached hereto copies of each such notice made during the period.

 

10


Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

  BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc.
  By:   /s/ John M. Perlowski                          
    John M. Perlowski  
    Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) of  BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc.
  Date:   March 1, 2016  

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

  By:   /s/ John M. Perlowski                          
    John M. Perlowski  
    Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) of  BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc.
  Date:   March 1, 2016  
  By:   /s/ Neal J. Andrews                              
    Neal J. Andrews  
    Chief Financial Officer (principal financial officer) of  BlackRock Enhanced Government Fund, Inc.
  Date:   March 1, 2016  

 

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