Robeco Multi Asset Sustainable I EUR

Ernesto Sanichar is Portfolio Manager and member of the Sustainable Multi Asset team. He responsible for the Robeco Multi Asset funds, Robeco ONE and Defined contribution funds. His asset specialties are fixed income and FX. He has been part of Robeco's Investment Solutions department since 2005. Previously, he was Treasury Manager for four years. Prior to joining Robeco in 2001, Ernesto worked at ING Barings as a Product controller at the cash equities and derivatives desk for three years. Ernesto started his career in the investment industry in 1998. He holds a Master's in Financial Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Mathieu van Roon is Portfolio Manager and member of the Sustainable Multi Asset team and is responsible for the Robeco Multi Asset funds, Robeco ONE and Defined contribution funds. He joined Robeco in 2011 within the Structured Investments department. Mathieu holds a Master’s in both Business Economics and Econometrics (cum Laude) from Erasmus University Rotterdam and is a Financial Risk Manager (FRM) charterholder.

The fund is established in Luxembourg and is subject to the Luxembourg tax laws and regulations. The fund is not liable to pay any corporation, income, dividend or capital gains tax in Luxembourg. The fund is subject to an annual subscription tax ('tax d'abonnement') in Luxembourg, which amounts to 0.01% of the net asset value of the fund. This tax is included in the net asset value of the fund. The fund can in principle use the Luxembourg treaty network to partially recover any withholding tax on its income.

Investors who are not subject to (exempt from) Dutch corporate-income tax (e.g. pension funds) are not taxed on the achieved result. Investors who are subject to Dutch corporate-income tax can be taxed for the result achieved on their investment in the fund. Dutch bodies that are subject to corporate-income tax are obligated to declare interest and dividend income, as well as capital gains in their tax return. Investors residing outside the Netherlands are subject to their respective national tax regime applying to foreign investment funds. We advise individual investors to consult their financial or tax adviser about the tax consequences of an investment in this fund in their specific circumstances before deciding to invest in the fund.

The fund invests a minimum of 80% in Robeco managed or externally managed funds which are classified as Article 8 or 9 under SFDR. For direct line investments, the fund incorporates sustainability in the investment process via exclusions, negative screening, ESG integration, targets on investments in companies and countries based on ESG performance as well as engagement and a minimum allocation to ESG-labeled bonds. For government and government-related bonds, the fund complies with Robeco’s exclusion policy for countries, excludes the 15% worst ranked countries following the World Governance Indicator 'Control of Corruption', and ensures investments have a minimum weighted average score of 6 following Robeco's proprietary Country Sustainability Ranking. The Country Sustainability Ranking scores countries on a scale from 1 (worst) to 10 (best) based on 40 environmental, social, and governance indicators. For corporate bonds, the fund does not invest in credit issuers that are in breach of international norms or where activities have been deemed detrimental to society following Robeco's exclusion policy. ESG factors are integrated in the bottom-up security analysis to assess the impact on the issuer's fundamental credit quality. In the credit selection the fund limits exposure to issuers with an elevated sustainability risk profile as well as excludes companies with high or medium negative SDG scores following Robeco's internally developed three-step SDG framework. Where issuers are flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to engagement. The following sections display the ESG-metrics for this fund along with short descriptions. For more information please visit the sustainability-related disclosures.The index used for all sustainability visuals is based on 50% MSCI All Country World Index 50% (EUR) Bloomberg Global Aggregate (hedged to EUR).

Markets continued to be in risk-off mode, with equities down for the third month. It was a similar story in the bond market, as yield curves steepened sharply over the period. This more cautious mood was echoed by a 7% jump in gold, often considered a safe-haven asset. From a macro perspective, we witnessed positive economic surprises with strong US retail sales and a robust Q3 GDP. It seems that US consumers are happy to keep spending even in the face of persistent inflation and high interest rates. Elevated geopolitical risks also came into focus, following a terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas at the start of October. Israel has responded with air strikes and paved the way for a broader ground invasion in Gaza. Within equities, small and micro caps were the most unloved place over the month, down almost twice as much versus the broader market. Bond markets saw a similar weakness in October. The 2-year Treasury yield saw a slight increase, but the 10-year and 30-year yields rose more than 30 basis points.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -2.21%. The Multi Asset Sustainable Fund was down 0.5% over the month and marginally behind the benchmark. An underweight in equities and a more risk-off stance supported strong returns, but this was undone by the underperformance of the Impact Equity strategy. On the fundamental equity side, Sustainable Global Stars had another strong month. The quality-focused approach has shielded the strategy from the recent sell-off in the higher-octane parts of the market. In contrast, the Equity Impact sleeve was down sharply over the month. This includes themes such as Sustainable Water, Smart Energy and Sustainable Healthy Living. In order to gain a purist exposure, there needs to be at least 50% revenue exposure from each company to the individual themes. This translates to a more mid-cap bias, which was a very tough place to be over October. On the fixed income side, SDG Credit Income slightly underperformed. The strategy has slightly reduced its beta, but retains an overweight in Europe and financials on valuation grounds. The exposure to high yield was the main detractor.