Robeco Global Total Return Bond Fund DH EUR

Jamie Stuttard is Head of the Global Macro team and Portfolio Manager of Robeco Global Total Return Bond Fund and of Robeco All Strategy Euro Bonds. He started at Robeco in 2018. In 2014-2018 Jamie worked at HSBC Bank in London, where was Head of European and US Credit Strategy. Prior to that he held a number of senior fixed income positions at Fidelity Management & Research, Schroder Investment Management and PIMCO Europe. On the buy-side, he has been awarded the Plan Sponsor Europe Fund Manager of the Year award, was twice named as a Financial News Rising Star, won several Lipper Fund awards as well as helping earn Morningstar’s Best Large Fixed Interest House. He started his career at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in London in 1998. Jamie has a Master’s in History from the University of Cambridge. Bob Stoutjesdijk is Portfolio Manager of Robeco Global Total Return Bond Fund, Strategist and member of Robeco’s Global Macro team. He joined Robeco in 2019. He worked at Shell Asset Management Company as Portfolio Manager Fixed Income Sovereign Credit in the period 2011-2019. Prior to that, he was Portfolio Manager Fixed Income at SNS Asset Management. He started his career as Quantitative Analyst at APG Asset Management in 2008. Bob has a Master’s in Economics & Business from Erasmus University Rotterdam and is a CAIA® 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 0.05% 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 incorporates sustainability in the investment process via exclusions, negative screening, ESG integration, limits 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. Where issuers are flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to engagement. Lastly, the fund invests in a minimum of 2.5% in green, social, sustainable and/or sustainability-linked bonds.

Global bond yields ended the month of April at similar levels as in March. Nonetheless, bond market volatility remained very high. In the US, 10-year Treasuries traded within a 3.3% to 3.6% range, ending the month at 3.42%. US government bonds rallied at the beginning of the month, as the ISM Manufacturing Index and job openings came in below expectations. In Europe, front-end German bond yields traded in a 2.5% to 3.0% range. On the last day of the month, bonds rallied strongly, with the 2-year German yield dropping 14 bps to 2.69%. Demand for bonds was boosted by lower-than-expected Eurozone GDP growth and German inflation surprising on the downside. Even as fears around banking stress seemed to subside, the 2-year BTP-Bund spread widened 15 bps to 62 bps. Spreads widened on supply pressures and expectations that the ECB will increase its QT pace in the summer.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was 0.08%. The fund posted a positive absolute return in April as interest rates fell. The fund's steepener positions in the United States added significantly to performance, while the contribution from duration was negative. Credit and EMD detracted from performance given the tightening of corporate bond spreads versus Euro swap spreads.

While inflation is still elevated, we have seen peak inflation levels in both the US and Europe. In addition, after a year of central bank tightening, it is expected that much higher interest rate levels will increasingly start to bite. We expect this to limit the room to hike rates further in this cycle to 25 bps for the Fed and 50 bps for the ECB. Further out, we believe that Fed and ECB policy rates will fall back to neutral levels sooner than markets currently think. Against this background, we continue to gradually scale into duration. As the ECB is expected to further increase (passive) QT by reducing reinvestment from its APP program from July onwards, we remain slightly cautious with regard to Italian and Spanish bonds, as valuations are already quite expensive on a relative basis.