Robeco Sustainable Emerging Stars Equities D EUR

Jaap van der Hart is the Lead Portfolio Manager of Robeco’s High Conviction Emerging Stars strategy. Over time, he has been responsible for the investments in South America, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Mexico, China and Taiwan. He also coordinates the country allocation process. He started his career in the investment industry in 1994 at Robeco's Quantitative Research department and moved to the Emerging Markets Equity team in 2000. Jaap holds a Master's in Econometrics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has published several academic articles on stock selection in emerging markets. Karnail Sangha is a Portfolio Manager within the Emerging Markets Equity team and provides analytical research coverage on India. He is Co-Portfolio Manager for the Emerging Stars and Sustainable Emerging Stars Equity strategies. Prior to joining Robeco in 2000, Karnail was a Risk Manager/Controller at Aegon Asset Management where he started his career in the industry in 1999. He holds a Master's in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and is a CFA® charterholder. Karnail is also fluent in Hindi and Punjabi.

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, 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 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].

In August, emerging markets declined 4.67% (EUR), thereby underperforming developed markets, with the MSCI World down 0.84% in EUR. An improving US economy was perceived as a sign that the Fed will keep interest rates higher for longer. Rising bond yields dampened the risk appetite, even as markets continued to feel the fallout from weaker Chinese housing and manufacturing data. The Chinese central bank unexpectedly reduced interest rates the most since 2020 to bolster an economy facing fresh risks from weak consumer spending. Furthermore, the Chinese authorities lowered down-payment ratios and reduced home mortgage rates to give further relief to first-time home buyers. Energy and information technology were the strongest sectors in August. Latin America was the worst-performing region, where Chile was amongst the worst-performing countries, as the peso weakened after the central bank in Chile lowered interest rates. Countries that did well in August were Hungary and Turkey. In Turkey, the new central bank hiked interest rates by a bigger-than-expected percentage to 25%, which was supportive for the lira and sentiment among foreign investors.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -5.95%. Stock selection was positively driven by the financials in the fund, with OTP Bank (Hungary), Bank Rakyat (Indonesia), PICC P&C (China), Kasikorn Bank (Thailand), Bandhan Bank (India) all performing strongly in August. Macronix (Taiwanese memory chips), Cencosud (Chilean retailer) and HCL Technologies (Indian software services) also did well. Stocks that underperformed in August were to be found in China: ENN Energy (gas distributor), Vipshop (online retailer), Xinyi Solar (solar panels), Ping An (life insurance) and Yadea (electric scooters). Other stocks that detracted from stock selection in August were Naspers (South Africa-based EM internet holding company), Vinhomes (Vietnamese property developer) and LG Chemical (South Korea).

The global environment is still challenging for equity markets, as inflation remains relatively high and global central banks have continued to raise interest rates. This has led to financial stress for some European and US banks, and global growth is likely to slow down. Emerging markets, however, seem relatively well positioned, as inflation is actually lower in many countries, they were earlier in hiking interest rates in this cycle and growth in China is picking up after the end of the zero-Covid policy. After last year's correction, market valuations have become more attractive. Emerging markets in particular are attractively valued relative to developed markets, with discounts of around 30% based on earnings multiples.