Robeco Investment Grade Corporate Bonds I EUR

Peter Kwaak is Portfolio Manager Investment Grade in the Credit team. Prior to joining Robeco in 2005, he was Portfolio Manager Credits at Aegon Asset Management for three years and at NIB Capital for two years. Peter has been active in the industry since 1998. He holds a Master’s in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and he is a CFA® charterholder. The Robeco Investment Grade Corporate Bonds fund 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 0.01% 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 outside Luxembourg are subject to their national tax regime applying to foreign investment funds. We advise individual investors to contact their financial or fiscal adviser regarding their specific fiscal situation.

The fund incorporates sustainability in the investment process via exclusions, ESG integration, a minimum allocation to ESG-labeled bonds, and engagement. 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. Financially material 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. Furthermore, the fund invests at least 5% in green, social, sustainable, and/or sustainability-linked bonds. Lastly, where issuers are flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to engagement.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, credit spreads widened modestly, influenced by several factors including the prospect of interest rates remaining higher for longer and a continued softening of economic data, particularly in Europe and China. In the US, noteworthy events included the decision by Fitch Ratings to downgrade the US credit rating from AAA to AA+, the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Conference speech emphasizing the necessity for additional tightening measures to address inflation concerns, and the release of JOLTS job vacancy data for July, which came in softer than expected. In Europe, there were growing economic concerns as the August flash PMIs revealed a significant decline, with the Eurozone composite PMI dropping to 47.0, the lowest since late 2020, and the UK's composite PMI contracting to 47.9, the first since January. Despite these challenges, European inflation remained resilient. In China, concerns around the economy persisted, while headwinds in the property sector intensified following Country Garden's missed bond payments. Consequently, the PBoC continued with piecemeal easing, including another policy rate cut and substantial liquidity injections into the banking system.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was 0.01%. The underlying portfolio underperformed its benchmark index, gross of fees. The Euro Corporate ex Financials Index credit spread widened by 8 bps to 130 bps over underlying government bonds. As a result, European corporate bonds underperformed underlying treasuries. Euro government bond yields moved down, with the 10-year German Bund yield decreasing by 3 basis points to 2.46%. Relative performance is attributed to beta positioning and issuer selection, in line with our investment process. The contribution from our beta overweight position was negative during the month, as we maintained a beta well above 1 throughout the course of the month. The impact of issuer selection on our performance this month was also negative. The negative drag from issuer selection was most pronounced in energy, consumer cyclical and consumer non-cyclical, while our contribution was positive in communications, albeit to a lesser extent. At the issuer level, the largest positive contributions to performance came from Netflix, Syngenta and Anheuser-Busch InBev. The largest negative contributions came from SPP-Distribúcia, Eurofins Scientific and TotalEnergies.

A buy-on-dips (and sell-the-rally) strategy from a conservative basis remains our preferred approach. Rates and recession fears are the key drivers in this cycle. And although 10-year US yields seem close to the cycle peak, volatility and uncertainty remain. Valuations are still around their long-term average, but are tighter than in earlier years, while financial conditions have tightened further. For now, we have taken some chips off the table. With an outlook of either higher rates or a recession, and valuation in no-man's land, markets are between a rock and a hard place. Technicals remain tough for the period to come. The Fed and ECB continue to be hawkish as inflation remains higher than desired. Both central banks are continuing their quant tightening programs, which are taking liquidity out of the market. In our opinion, it is more important to look at the change in purchasing by central banks, which has become negative. For our investment grade credit portfolios, we brought betas back to around 1.1, whereas the betas of our high yield funds moved below 1.