RobecoSAM SDG High Yield Bonds DH EUR

Sander Bus is CIO and Portfolio Manager High Yield Bonds in the Credit team. He has been dedicated to High Yield at Robeco since 1998. Previously, Sander worked for two years as a Fixed Income Analyst at Rabobank where he started his career in the industry in 1996. He holds a Master's in Financial Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and he is a CFA® charterholder. Christiaan Lever is Portfolio Manager High Yield and Emerging Credits in the Credit team. Before assuming this role in 2016, he was Financial Risk Manager at Robeco, focusing on market risk, counterparty risk and liquidity risk within fixed Income markets. Christiaan has been active in the industry since 2010. He holds a Master's in Quantitative Finance and in Econometrics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. RobecoSAM SDG High Yield Bonds is managed within Robeco’s credit team, which consists of nine portfolio managers and twenty-three credit analysts. The portfolio managers are responsible for the construction and management of the credit portfolios, whereas the analysts cover the team’s fundamental research. Our analysts have long term experience in their respective sectors which they cover globally. Each analyst covers both investment grade and high yield, providing them an information advantage and benefiting from inefficiencies that traditionally exist between the two segmented markets. Furthermore, the credit team is supported by three dedicated quantitative researchers and four fixed income traders. On average, the members of the credit team have an experience in the asset management industry of seventeen years, of which eight years with Robeco.

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.

Sustainability is incorporated in the investment process by the means of a target universe, exclusions, ESG integration, and a minimum allocation to ESG-labeled bonds. The fund solely invests in credits issued by companies with a positive or neutral impact on the SDGs. The impact of issuers on the SDGs is determined by applying Robeco's internally developed three-step SDG Framework. The outcome is a quantified contribution expressed as an SDG score, considering both the contribution to the SDGs (positive, neutral or negative) and the extent of this contribution (high, medium or low). In addition, 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 of financially material ESG risk on the issuer's fundamental credit quality. Furthermore, the fund invests at least 2% in green, social, sustainable, and/or sustainability-linked bonds. Lastly, where a credit issuer is flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to exclusion.

Spreads in the high yield market narrowed by 20 basis points to reach new lows since April 2022, and the yield to worst concluded the month 20 basis points tighter at 8.03%. Unemployment rates near a multi-decade low and stronger-than-expected wage growth keep providing evidence to policymakers that the hiking cycle may not be over. Despite the first signs of declining core inflation, the Fed followed up with a 25 bps rate hike. Potential clouds to the growth picture from either the strong rise in the oil price, the debt ceiling or the required resumption of the very sizable federal student loan repayments did not significantly impact markets, which increasingly prices in a soft landing. In Europe, inflation showed signs of slowing, albeit from very high levels. With mixed data observed at the country level, it still led the ECB to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points. July marked the second-lowest month of 2023 in terms of bond issuance, with USD 6.7 billion worth of US high-yield bonds priced. Additionally, default activity remained relatively muted, with only four defaults affecting the market and impacting a relatively small volume of USD 3 billion.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was 1.22%. The high yield bond index experienced a positive total return in July, driven by 20 basis points of spread tightening and favorable underlying government bond returns. The outperformance was the result of a small negative impact from our underweight beta being more than offset by positive issuer selection. Bonds with higher ratings outperformed lower-rated ones on a risk-adjusted basis, both in euros and dollars. Our quality bias therefore made a positive contribution to the relative performance. Our underweight US versus overweight Europe resulted in a slightly negative contribution. Our overweight in financials, particularly in the banking sector as well as in capital goods added positively, whereas the underweights in energy and consumer cyclicals partly detracted. Additionally, allocation effects based on the SDG score also had a slight detracting effect. On an individual security level, significant contributions to performance were made by Altice and Country Garden Holdings, where our active underweight position proved beneficial. A small negative impact was observed from the active overweight position in Itaú Unibanco.

Markets have been talking about the upcoming US recession for more than a year. Over the past few quarters, we have elaborated about the increased risks of a recession, too. As of yet, a recession has not arrived. In Europe, Germany did recently slip into a technical recession after we witnessed two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. Markets are stuck between a stubborn inflation environment and a pending recession. These are interconnected. To kill the inflation monster, central banks almost have to force the economy into a recession to cool off labor markets. The time-lags between central bank action and impact make it virtually impossible to avoid overshooting or undershooting. Risks lie in those parts of the market that are vulnerable to these much higher rates, like over-indebted LBOs or certain debt-laden sectors. Luckily we have not seen a capex cycle that has created over-supply situations. Yet, we think accidents are likely to happen, and have seen some already. Stock picking is ever more important, as the current environment will certainly create winners and losers. For now, the beta is below one.