Robeco Institutioneel Emerging Markets Fonds

Dimitri Chatzoudis is Portfolio Manager Institutional Emerging Markets Accounts. As a Research Analyst he covers the team’s investments in Mexico. Before joining Robeco in 2008, he was Portfolio Manager Eastern European and Global Emerging Markets at ABN AMRO. He started his career in the industry in 1993. Dimitri holds a Master’s in Industrial Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology and is a Certified European Financial Analyst. Dimitri is also fluent in Greek. Wim-Hein Pals is Head of the Robeco Emerging Markets Equity team and Lead Portfolio Manager of the Global Emerging Markets Core strategy. Previously, he was Portfolio Manager Emerging European and African equities and Portfolio Manager Emerging Asian equities. Wim-Hein started his career in the investment industry at Robeco in 1990. He holds a Master's in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Eindhoven University of Technology and a Master's in Business Economics from Tilburg University. 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. Cornelis Vlooswijk is Lead Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst African Equities. Previously, he worked for Robeco as an investment strategist focusing on North America and Emerging Markets since 2005. Before joining Robeco in 2005, he worked for Credit Suisse First Boston as an Investment Banking Analyst, focusing on the transport and logistics sector. He started his career in the financial industry in 1998. Cornelis holds a Master’s in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and is a CFA® charterholder.

The fund is established in the Netherlands. The fund is a mutual fund that is open in the sense of the Dutch Corporate-Income Tax Act 1969. The fund has the status of 'fiscal investment institution' in the sense of article 28 of the Dutch Corporate-Income Tax Act 1969 and, as such, is taxed at a corporate-income tax rate of 0%. The fund is obliged to pay out the realized current income in the form of dividend within 8 months after the end of the financial year. The fund withholds Dutch dividend tax at a rate of 15% from these dividend payments. The fund can in principle use the Dutch 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. Dutch tax-exempt bodies may seek a full refund on the 15% dividend tax withheld on dividends (25% prior to 1 January 2007). Interest income is exempt from tax withheld at source. 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 in their tax return. In principle, Dutch bodies that are subject to corporate-income tax may offset the 15% dividend tax withheld on dividends (25% prior to 1 January 2007) against the corporate-income tax and seek a refund of the excess amount. Investors residing outside the Netherlands are subject to their respective national tax regime applying to foreign investment funds. Shareholders who do not pay tax in the Netherlands and who are resident in countries that have a tax treaty with the Netherlands to prevent double taxation may seek a refund for part of the Dutch dividend tax from the Dutch tax authorities, depending on the treaty. As of 1 January 2007, a pension fund having its registered office in another EU member state is also entitled to a Dutch dividend-tax refund. The above is based on the current fiscal legislation and regulations in the Netherlands. 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.

In February, emerging markets declined by 4.2% in euro terms, performing worse than developed markets, which were down 0.1%. An important driver was the increase in US bond yields, as the outlook for the potential Fed interest rate cuts became less optimistic. Also, geopolitical risks between China and the US came to the foreground again, among others due to the Chinese balloon flying over the US. China was therefore one of the worst-performing countries in February, together with Thailand, Colombia, Brazil, South Africa and Saudi Arabia. The best-performing countries were the Czech Republic, Greece and Turkey. Turkey experienced a very severe earthquake, but the market was higher as the government instructed banks and state pension funds to support the equity market.

Based on closing GAV, the fund's return was -2.83%. The fund outperformed the benchmark (MSCI EM) in February, with a strong positive contribution from stock selection. Country allocation also made a positive contribution, with the main contributions coming primarily from the overweight positions in Greece, Indonesia and Mexico. The underweight positions in Taiwan and Turkey detracted the most from the relative performance. From a stock selection perspective, positive attribution came particularly from China, Greece, India and Mexico. In China, the selection in consumer discretionary (Haier and Gree Electric overweights and no positions in Meituan and JD) and industrials (Weichai Power) did relatively well. In India, our selection in the financials sector (ICICI Bank) was the main driver of the positive contribution. In Greece, the banks continued to show a strong performance. In Mexico, bank Banorte, real estate company Fibra UNO and airport company Asur outperformed the benchmark. The selection in Poland and South Africa detracted the most from performance, although the impact was relatively small.

The global environment is still challenging for equity markets, with high inflation across the world, growth slowing down and the main central banks raising interest rates to fight inflation. On the margin, however, the outlook is improving, as inflation is likely to peak and already declining in some countries, and global central banks may slow the hiking process. Emerging markets were early in hiking interest rates this cycle, so they are now also closer to the peak. Finally, the economic outlook in China is improving, as it has ended the strict Covid measures and has announced more economic policy support. After last year's correction, market valuations have become more attractive, and in particular for emerging markets they are now at longer-term averages. In addition, emerging markets are attractively valued relative to developed markets with discounts of around 30% based on earnings multiples.