Robeco Global Credits I USD

After very negative returns in the first quarter in fixed income, there was no moment of ease in April, as concerns over global growth and rising inflation continued to gather pace. Negative returns were driven by rising spreads and rising government yields. Multiple factors are behind this, including the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese lockdowns because of Covid amplifying existing supply constraints, and growing fears that increasingly hawkish central banks are not capable of achieving a soft landing as they continue to grapple with strong inflation. As the markets are now pricing in an additional two hikes by the Fed and three hikes by the ECB. Commodities on the contrary have been up for four consecutive months and are a key reason for the high inflation numbers. Energy prices in Europe are balanced between the recent move of Russia to stop gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria, new sanctions, but also lower near-term demand due to Covid-imposed lockdowns in China. In response to the latter, China had to lower its GDP guidance, but the PBOC refrained from cutting rates.

Currency risks are not hedged.

Robeco Global Credit make use of derivatives for hedging purposes as well as for investment purposes. These derivatives are very liquid.

In principle, this share class of the fund will distribute an quarterly dividend.

The fund incorporates sustainability in the investment process via exclusions, ESG integration 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. Lastly, where issuers are flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to engagement.

Robeco Global Credits is an actively managed fund that invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of global investment grade corporate bonds. The selection of these bonds is based on fundamental analysis. The fund's objective is to provide long-term capital growth. 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, and engagement. This fund has the flexibility to invest in other fixed income asset classes such as high yield, emerging credits and asset-backed securities. The fund can take limited active duration (interest-rate sensitivity) positions. The majority of bonds selected will be components of the benchmark, but bonds 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, while still controlling relative risk through the application of limits (on currencies) to the extent of the 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 embedded in the investment process so as to ensure that the fund's positions remain within set limits at all times.