Robeco Emerging Markets Equities M EUR

In April, emerging markets declined by 0.4% in EUR, thereby outperforming their developed counterparts, which declined by 3.3%. Statements made by Fed officials indicated a more hawkish tone in order to combat the very high inflation expectations. With lockdowns in some key hubs intensifying and disruption in certain activity indicators, worries about China's economic growth are rising. Geopolitical tensions are hurting investor demand, with no end in sight of the war in Ukraine. Due to higher yields and 'flight to safety', the USD strengthened. Central banks in emerging markets continued their tightening stance, with South Korea, Poland, Hungary and Peru all hiking interest rates. China's central bank was on the easing side, as it cut the reserve requirements ratio and promised to increase lending. Markets that performed poorly were to be found in Eastern Europe (Poland and Hungary) and Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico). South Africa also underperformed in April. The Middle Eastern countries performed strongly. Other countries that did well were Indonesia, Greece and Turkey.EME funds continued to see inflows of USD 3 billion; year-to-date inflows reached USD 35 billion.

The fund is allowed to pursue an active currency policy to generate extra returns.

The fund does not distribute dividend. The income earned by the fund is reflected in its share price. The fund's entire result is thus reflected in its share price development.

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.

Robeco Emerging Markets Equities is an actively managed fund that invests in stocks in emerging countries across the world. The selection of these stocks is based on fundamental analysis. The fund's objective is to achieve a better return than the index. The fund promotes E&S (i.e. Environmental and Social) characteristics within the meaning of Article 8 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, integrates sustainability risks in the investment process and applies Robeco’s Good Governance policy. The fund applies sustainability indicators, including but not limited to, normative, activity-based and region-based exclusions, proxy voting and engagement. Generally, emerging economies are growing faster than developed countries and can have stronger balance sheets for governments, companies and households. The fund selects investments based on top-down country analysis and bottom-up stock ideas. The focus is on companies with a sound business model, solid growth prospects and reasonable valuation.The majority of stocks selected will be components of the Benchmark, but stocks outside the Benchmark may be selected too. The fund can deviate substantially from the weightings of the Benchmark. The fund aims to outperform the Benchmark over the long run, whilst still controlling relative risk through the applications of limits (on countries and sectors) to the extent of deviation from the Benchmark. This will consequently limit the deviation of the performance relative to the Benchmark. The Benchmark is a broad market weighted index that is not consistent with the ESG characteristics promoted by the fund.

Risk management is fully integrated in the investment process to ensure that positions always meet predefined guidelines.