Robeco ONE Duurzaam

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.

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 0.05% 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.

The fiscal consequences of investing in this fund depend on the investor's personal situation. For private investors in the Netherlands real interest and dividend income or capital gains received on their investments are not relevant for tax purposes. Each year investors pay income tax on the value of their net assets as at 1 January if and inasmuch as such net assets exceed the investor’s tax-free allowance. Any amount invested in the fund forms part of the investor's net assets. Private investors who are resident outside the Netherlands will not be taxed in the Netherlands on their investments in the fund. However, such investors may be taxed in their country of residence on any income from an investment in this fund based on the applicable national fiscal laws. Other fiscal rules apply to legal entities or professional investors. We advise 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 with government and/or corporate exposure (credit or equity), the fund incorporates sustainability in its investment process as follows. For government bonds, the fund complies with Robeco's exclusion policy for countries. In addition, the fund excludes the 15% worst ranked countries following the World Governance Indicator 'Control of Corruption' and integrates ESG factors of countries to ensure that the fund's investments have a minimum 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 investments, the fund does not make investments 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 security analysis to assess the existing and potential ESG risks and opportunities of an issuer. The fund limits exposure to issuers with elevated sustainability risks in the portfolio construction. Lastly, 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 that are relevant 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 [Index name].

There were few places to hide for investors, as both equity and fixed income sold off sharply. The negative impact was somewhat softened for euro investors by the strong appreciation in the US dollar over the month. Market sentiment was dragged lower by a weakening outlook for China, a downgrade of the US government's credit rating by Fitch and growing acceptance that central banks will likely maintain restrictive policies beyond 2023. Chinese data deteriorated markedly over the month. Inflation turned negative, retail sales came in well below expectations, business confidence dropped, and there were further bankruptcy filings by the country's largest property developers. China has responded with some quite muted stimulus policies, but this has not yet been enough to breathe new fire into the belly of the ‘Chinese Golden Dragon’. At a broader level, investors are starting to pull back from the Goldilocks type scenario predicted for the monetary policy tightening cycle. Inflation remains stickier than expected and we are starting to see early signs that the job market in the US is starting to cool down.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -1.26%. The Robeco ONE Duurzaam Fund was down 1.1%, behind the benchmark (-0.8%). A slight underweight in equities played out well, but this was outweighed by the drag on performance from security selection in the impact thematic strategies. An overweight in emerging markets equities also detracted. The Robeco Sustainable Global Stars strategy was the stand-out performer, as it continued its stellar performance over the year to date. The high conviction core growth strategy has recently increased the position in RELX (second-largest holding), following very strong results. The team believes the company can be an important beneficiary of artificial energy. Elsewhere, the Smart Energy strategy suffered a sharp pullback – principally from its exposure to semiconductors. In particular, Infineon was down over 10% after it forecast fourth-quarter revenue to come in below market expectations, weighed down by weak demand from makers of personal computers and smartphones. Within fixed income, credit selection and a slight overweight in high yield bonds both contributed positively. On the government bond side, a slight overweight in duration detracted marginally from performance.