RobecoSAM Global SDG Equities M2 EUR

Michiel Plakman is Lead Portfolio Manager and member of the Global Equity team. He is also Co-Head of Robeco’s Global Equity team. He is responsible for fundamental global equities with a focus on SDG investing and on companies in the information technology, real estate & communication services sectors, as well as portfolio construction. He has been in this role since 2009. Previously, he was responsible for managing the Robeco IT Equities fund within the TMT team. Prior to joining Robeco in 1999, he worked as a Portfolio Manager Japanese Equities at Achmea Global Investors (PVF Pensioenen). From 1995 to 1996 he was Portfolio Manager European Equities at KPN Pension Fund. He holds a Master's in Econometrics from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and he is a CFA® Charterholder. Christoph Wolfensberger is a portfolio manager at Robeco within the Global Equity team with over 10 years of experience in Sustainability Investing. He is also the deputy portfolio manager for the Global SDG Equities strategy.  Prior, Christoph was also a Quantitative Analyst covering Sustainability/Impact Investing within Robeco’s Products & Engineering Team with a strong focus on customized solutions as well as portfolio optimizations. Prior to joining in 2011, he served as an Intern on the ESG Research team for six months. He holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Chemistry and Business Studies from the University of Zurich.

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’s sustainable investment objective is to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG and sustainability considerations are incorporated in the investment process by the means of a target universe, exclusions and ESG integration. The fund solely invests in stocks issued by companies with a medium or high positive 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). Furthermore, the fund does not invest in stock 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 ESG risks and opportunities. 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].

In August, the MSCI World Index cooled off a bit. Apart from energy and healthcare, all other sectors posted negative returns, with utilities, materials and financials being the worst-performing ones. During his Jackson Hole speech, Fed Chairman Powell noted that the Fed will "proceed carefully" on future hikes, mentioning also that it is closely following "signs that the economy may not be cooling as expected". The US August job openings figure was the lowest in five months and also well below consensus expectations. This potential indication of a weakening labor market triggered a strong downward revision on market participants' expectations for future rate hikes. On the corporate front, NVIDIA once again made the headlines by reporting very strong results, even against a higher bar that was set after its impressive last quarter. However, the stock's flattish reaction on the day of the results may indicate the level of 'hype' embedded in the stock.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -0.44%. Over the last month, the fund outperformed the MSCI World, driven by solid stock selection in financials and industrials. Sector allocation was negative, mainly due to our zero energy exposure. Among the largest contributors was Eli Lilly. The strong data of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy SELECT study clearly boosted Eli Lilly's share price ahead of its compelling quarterly results, which confirmed very strong momentum within the GLP-1 space. Another large contributor was Akamai, a content delivery networks (CDN) specialist. Driven by strong results for its security business, the company reported very healthy EBITDA margins ahead of expectations and lifted its fiscal year growth guidance. Among the largest detractors was Infineon, as fears of a peaking cycle within automotive semis returned and concerns about built capacity leading to underutilization and thus margin headwinds are growing. Another large detractor was CVS Health, as one of its clients, Blue Shield of California, announced the replacement of CVS Health's Caremark as its pharmacy-benefit manager (PBM) with a consortium of vendors.

Overall economic conditions remain challenging, with tighter lending conditions on the back of the well-documented failure of major US banks, very high interest rates and inflation levels that, despite some easing, are still well above the central bank targets. Also, yield curves in major economies remain inverted. Based on past experience, we continue to believe that the market is too optimistic and underestimates the stickiness of inflation at the current still elevated levels. With market valuations remaining above depressed levels and the balance of risks for global equity markets overall still looking skewed to the downside, it is hard to get overly excited and hence we maintain our defensive positioning. In the meantime, we continue to look for companies whose risk-return profile turned attractive due to overreactions in the market and we are becoming more constructive lately, at least in certain areas. We remain confident in our bottom-up approach that focuses on picking companies with strong over-the-cycle fundamentals and resilient business models to identify high-quality stocks at attractive valuations.