Robeco QI Global Developed Enhanced Index Equities Fund

Wilma de Groot is Head of the Core Quant Equities capability and Deputy Head of Quant Equity. She is responsible for Enhanced Indexing, Active Quant and Sustainable Beta strategies and specializes in asset pricing anomalies, portfolio construction and sustainability integration. She has published in various academic publications including the Journal of Impact and ESG Investing, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Empirical Finance and the Financial Analysts Journal. She is a guest lecturer at several universities. Wilma joined Robeco as a Quant Researcher in 2001. Wilma has a PhD in Finance from Erasmus University Rotterdam and holds a Master’s in Econometrics from Tilburg University. She is a CFA® charterholder. Tim Dröge is Portfolio Manager Quantitative Equities. He focuses on managing Core Quant strategies, both Enhanced Indexing and Active Quant portfolios. Tim specializes in quantitative stock selection, portfolio construction and Emerging Markets. Previously, he held positions as Portfolio Manager Balanced Investments and Account Manager institutional clients. Tim has been working as a Portfolio Manager since 2001. He started his career at Robeco in 1999. He holds a Master's in Business Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Machiel Zwanenburg is Portfolio Manager Quantitative Equities. He focuses on managing Core Quant strategies, both Enhanced Indexing and Active Quant portfolios and specializes in quantitative stock selection and portfolio construction. One of his areas of expertise is sustainability integration within quantitative equities. Previously, he held positions as Risk Manager at RobecoSAM and Head of Client Portfolio Risk at Robeco. He joined Robeco in 1999 as a member of the Quant Research team. He holds a Master's in Econometrics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and a Master's in Economics from the London School of Economics. Jan de Koning is Portfolio Manager Quantitative Equities. He focuses on managing Core Quant strategies, both Enhanced Indexing and Active Quant strategies and specializes in quantitative stock selection, portfolio construction and sustainability integration. He is also the author of a book on quantitative investing and has published in The Journal of Impact and ESG Investing. Before joining Robeco in 2015, he worked as a fiduciary manager at NN Investment Partners. He started his investment career in 2005 with Centuria Capital and was a Portfolio Manager at Somerset Capital Partners. Jan holds a Master's in Organizational Studies from Tilburg University, is a CFA®, CAIA®, CIPM® and CMT charterholder. He is also a PhD Researcher at the University of Amsterdam focusing on index capitalism in the age of sustainable investing. Han van der Boon is Portfolio Manager Quantitative Equities. He focuses on managing Core Quant strategies, both Enhanced Indexing and Active Quant portfolios and specializes in quantitative stock selection and portfolio construction. He was a Technical Portfolio Manager and Operational Portfolio Manager with a focus on equities in the period 2009-2018. He joined Robeco in 1997 as a Business Controller. He holds a Master's in Business Administration from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Vania Sulman is Portfolio Manager Quantitative Equities and focuses on managing the Core Quant strategies. She specializes in the stock selection and sustainability integration in customized portfolios. She rejoined Robeco in 2022. Previously, she worked as a data scientist for three years and prior to that as a Quant Researcher at Robeco with a focus on quantitative stock selection. She joined the industry and Robeco in 2016. She holds a Master's (cum laude) in Quantitative Finance from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

The fund is established in the Netherlands. The fund is managed as a 'naamloze vennootschap' (public limited company). 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. From 1 January 2007 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.

For private investors residing in the Netherlands real interest and dividend income or capital gains received on their investments are not relevant for tax purposes. Participating units held by private investors who are taxpayers in the Netherlands belong in Box 3. If and insofar as an investor's net assets exceed the net wealth exemption limit, said investor is liable from 1 January to pay 1.2% annually on the balance of his or her net assets. Investors residing in the Netherlands may offset the Dutch dividend tax withheld (15% as at 1 January 2007) against their income-tax payment. 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 dividend-tax refund in the Netherlands. The above is based on the current fiscal legislation and regulation.

The fund systematically incorporates sustainability in the investment process via exclusions, ESG integration, ESG and environmental footprint targets, engagement and voting. The fund does not invest in stocks issued by companies that are in breach of international norms or where its activities have been deemed detrimental to society following Robeco's exclusion policy. Financially material ESG factors are integrated in the portfolio construction to ensure the ESG score of the portfolio is better than that of the index. In addition, the environmental footprints of the fund are made lower than that of the benchmark by restricting the GHG emissions, water use and waste generation. With these portfolio construction rules, stocks issued by companies with better ESG scores or environmental footprints are more likely to be included in the portfolio while stocks issued by companies with worse ESG scores or environmental footprints are more likely to be divested from the portfolio. 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.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was 0.27%. The objective of the Developed Markets Enhanced Indexing strategy is to consistently outperform the MSCI World Index by applying a large number of small overweight and underweight positions with respect to the index, resulting in a low tracking error. The portfolio consists of roughly 750 developed market stocks and overweights stocks with an attractive valuation, a profitable operating business, strong price momentum and positive recent revisions from analysts. By using our integrated multi-factor stock selection model, we expect the strategy to consistently outperform the index. Furthermore, the fund has a lower environmental footprint on carbon emissions compared to the benchmark.