Robeco Sustainable Asian Stars Equities IL USD

Vicki Chi is Portfolio Manager in the Asia Pacific team with a focus on defensive sectors. Prior to joining this team in 2014, she was an Analyst in the Robeco Emerging Markets team where she covered Chinese stocks in the telecom and banking sector. Vicki started her career in 2006 at Robeco. She is a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Erasmus University Rotterdam. She also is a CFA® charterholder. Joshua Crabb is Lead Portfolio Manager and Head of Asia Pacific Equities. Before joining Robeco in 2018, Joshua was Head of Asian Equities at Old Mutual and Portfolio Manager at BlackRock and Prudential in Hong Kong. He started his career in the investment industry as Sector Analyst at BT Financial Group in 1996. Joshua holds a Bachelor's with Honors in Finance from the University of Western Australia and he is a CFA® 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 incorporates sustainability in the investment process via exclusions, ESG integration, ESG and environmental footprint targets, 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 fundamental investment analysis to assess existing and potential (long-term) ESG risks and opportunities. In the stock selection the fund limits exposure to elevated sustainability risks. The fund also targets a better ESG score and at least 20% lower carbon, water and waste footprints compared to the reference index. In addition, where a stock issuer is flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to exclusion. Lastly, the fund makes use of shareholder rights and applies proxy voting in accordance with Robeco's proxy voting policy.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].

Asian markets gave up their July gains in August falling 6.4%, underperforming global markets (-3.9%). Concerns around inflation in the US and resilient macro data reignited concerns over further tightening in financial conditions, leading to a sell-off in both bonds and equities. In August, the top three performing markets in APAC were Indonesia, India and Thailand. Commodity-exposed markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia did well. In India, the rally in small caps continued and the market attracted further inflows, despite a rise in inflation. Thailand fell less than other Asian markets, despite political uncertainties as former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to the country. The bottom-performing markets were the Philippines, China and HK, on a mix of growth concerns. China's July rally led to profit-taking, as credit stress rose among property developers, and selected trusts and funds. Execution of stimulus has been gradual while macro data lost further momentum, leaving many investors to stand back while timing the cyclical bottom.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -6.07%. In August, Robeco Sustainable Asian Stars outperformed the index. Strong stock selection in Vietnam and Indonesia were the main drivers, while India and Taiwan detracted. In terms of sectors, IT and industrials drove the outperformance, while healthcare and materials detracted. On the positive side, after announcing two large deals signed in the US in August, HCL Technologies seemed to have convinced the market that it can reach its revenue growth guidance, and its share price rallied. Chinese recycling gypsum board maker Beijing New Building Materials went up on an improved outlook in the home decoration market, despite property turmoil. Vietnamese IT services and telecom company FPT rallied after reporting strong growth. On the other side, Shandong Weigao reported lower-than-expected earnings due to government price cuts. We expect volume recovery to happen in the rest of the year and the stock is too cheap to reflect its consolidator status in China's medical equipment and consumable industry. Datang Renewable delivered a disappointing set of results, mainly on slower collection of wind power sales.

Market sentiment remains subdued with concerns around a global slowdown, a recession in the US and an uncertain economic recovery in China. Rate hike fears around data releases and 'Fed speak' along with geopolitics are unlikely to go away soon, so volatility is likely to stay elevated. Our focus continues to be on earnings and although it will be selective, we believe the sustainability thematic will bring bottom-up stock opportunities as valuation drops. After the recent pullback, it is a great time for global investors to allocate to Asian sustainability stocks. The Asian supply chain is fully participating in the most exciting development in AI and EV, with an attractive valuation, which is just beginning to be recognized. Financials in the relatively developed parts of Asia could see peaking interest income and rising asset quality issues, but we still like financial inclusion exposures in South Asia.