Robeco Asia-Pacific Equities F USD

Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed in May. Many Asia-Pacific central banks decided to follow the US Fed and raise interest rates driven by higher inflation to support their currencies. We saw hikes in Australia, South Korea, India, Hong Kong, the Philippines and New Zealand. China cut interest rates to support an economy mostly hurt by its own Covid restrictions. As a result, China was the best performer in May, up 4%. The whole world has to deal with rising food and resource prices, but Asian inflation looks to be capped. Few Asian governments pumped as much money into their economies during the pandemic as the US and Europe did, without the demand pull inflation and numbers staying benign. Most Japanese companies are loath to hike local prices, afraid of a consumer backlash. The weak yen gives a boost to many bottom lines and the Japanese earnings season resulted in positive surprises and a record announcement of stock buybacks. Anthony Albanese was elected as new Australian PM, with a focus on his attitude to the environment and relations with China. 'Bong-Bong' Marcos, the son of a dictator and kleptocrat that fled the country only 36 years ago, won the Philippine presidential election.

The fund is allowed to pursue an active currency policy to generate extra returns.

The fund does not distribute dividend. The fund retains any income that is earned and so its entire performance is reflected in its share price.

The fund incorporates sustainability in the investment process through exclusions, ESG integration, engagement and voting. The fund does not invest in issuers that are in breach of international norms or where activities have been deemed detrimental to society following Robeco's exclusion policy. Financially material ESG factors are integrated in the bottom-up investment analysis to assess existing and potential ESG risks and opportunities. In the stock selection the fund limits exposure to elevated sustainability risks. In addition, where a stock issuer is flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to engagement. Lastly, the fund makes use of shareholder rights and applies proxy voting in accordance with Robeco's proxy voting policy.

Robeco Asia-Pacific Equities is an actively managed fund that invests in stocks in developed and emerging Asian-Pacific countries. The selection of these stocks is based on fundamental analysis. The fund's objective is to achieve a better return than the index. The fund promotes E&S (i.e. Environmental and Social) characteristics within the meaning of Article 8 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, integrates sustainability risks in the investment process and applies Robeco’s Good Governance policy. The fund applies sustainability indicators, including but not limited to, normative, activity-based and region-based exclusions, proxy voting and engagement. The fund focuses on stocks of companies incorporated in Asia, Australia or New Zealand or those companies that exercise major part of economic activity from these regions. Country allocation is a less important performance driver, implemented via country and currency overlays. The majority of stocks selected will be components of the Benchmark, but stocks outside the Benchmark may be selected too. The fund can deviate substantially from the weightings of the Benchmark. The fund aims to outperform the Benchmark over the long run, whilst still controlling relative risk through the applications of limits (on countries and sectors) to the extent of deviation from the Benchmark. This will consequently limit the deviation of the performance relative to the Benchmark. The Benchmark is a broad market weighted index that is not consistent with the ESG characteristics promoted by the fund.

Risk management is fully integrated into the investment process to ensure that positions always meet predefined guidelines.