Robeco Chinese A-share Equities I USD

The Chinese Equities investment team consists of five investment professionals with an average experience of 10 years, combining complementary skills and worldwide investment backgrounds. The team’s portfolio managers place local insights into the context of a wider regional and global perspective. Local presence in Hong Kong and Shanghai allows for optimal coverage of both off- and onshore markets, respectively. Mr. Lu is the Head of Investments China. He is responsible for Robeco’s overall investments and research activities in China. Before joining Robeco in Nov 2015, Mr. Lu worked as a Portfolio Manager at Norges Bank Investment Management in Shanghai from 2011 to 2015, and as an analyst in Hong Kong from 2009 to 2011. Prior to that, he worked at the M&A department of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd. Mr. Lu started his career as an engineer at Motorola, Inc. in 2000 and subsequently held several managerial positions. Mr. Lu is a native Mandarin Chinese speaker. He holds an MBA with Distinction in Finance and Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the US. He also holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Illinois in the US and a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from Fudan University in China.

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 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.

China's NBS manufacturing PMI jumped to 52.6 (consensus: 50.6), one of the highest monthly improvements in decades, amid the resumption of factory production and business activities after the CNY break. PMI in construction climbed from 56.4% in January to 60.2% in February, reflecting a faster-than-expected recovery in construction activity. For the service sector, PMI rose from 54.0% in January to 55.6% in February, as the indexes in road transportation, air transportation, postal service, catering & accommodation and leasing & business activities all rose to expansionary territory. This indicates a robust sequential improvement of the Chinese economy. Although today's PMI figures may overstate the real improvement, as a number of factors distort the comparison base in January, a month with lower activities due to the early Lunar New Year holidays this year, as well as being hampered by Covid. However, the strong PMIs still suggest that the recovery is on track, in line with other high-frequency data such as mobility and production resumption. A positive feedback loop of 'job-income-consumption' could also have started with improving employment PMIs.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -5.24%. Robeco Chinese A-share Equities underperformed its reference index by 1.9% in February. Negative contributions came from information technology and industrials. Positive sector contributions came from healthcare and financials. The main detractors were Contemporary Amperex, Focused Photonics and Hangzhou First Applied Material. The main contributors were China Pacific Insurance, Tsingtao and Haier Smart Home.

We are turning to a more constructive view on China's market, as multiple positive developments signal a pivot to recovery and reduce the risk premium. As China emerges from the pandemic, we expect that the release of pent-up demand will help to fuel a meaningful rebound in services consumption, on the back of excess savings accrued over the past three years. Meanwhile, the government is continuing pro-growth policies, such as further easing of the property sector and accelerating infrastructure investments. A resurgence in infrastructure spending through new provisions for local government special bonds will support infrastructure activities. Targeted policy tools such as the small enterprises re-lending scheme, may also help to restore business confidence for smaller enterprises. Alongside a moderate easing in monetary conditions, this will support economic growth into 2023, in contrast to tightening monetary policy in Europe and the US.