Robeco Global Credits IH JPY

The Global Aggregate Corporate Bond Index returned +0.85% (hedged in euro) as credit spreads continued to widen and rates moved down further. The 10-year US Treasury yield declined 33 basis points to 2.66%, while the German 10-year yield declined 6 basis points to 0.24%. The credit spread on the Global Corporate Bond Index increased by 14 bps to 1.55%. Political risks continue to dominate credit and equity markets. Combined with tighter financial conditions globally, this has resulted in one of the weakest December months in history. Investors are worried that global growth will disappoint due to tightening and political issues. This was also reflected in lower commodity prices such as oil. US credit markets were particularly weak in December. The Global Corporate Bond Index delivered a negative excess return of -0.69% versus government bonds. US corporate bonds showed an underperformance compared to European corporates with excess returns of -1.01% and -0.03%, respectively. High yield (-2.28%) underperformed while emerging market credits (-0.50%) outperformed global investment grade markets.

All currency risks are hedged.

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

The fund does not distribute a dividend. The income earned by the fund is reflected in its share price. This means that the fund's total performance is reflected in its share price performance.

The prime goal of integrating ESG factors in our analysis is to strengthen our ability to assess the downside risk of our credit investments. Our analysts include RobecoSAM sustainability data and use external sources to make an ESG assessment as a part of the fundamental analysis.

The Robeco Global Credits is aimed at investors seeking higher yields than those offered by government bonds, but without the higher risk of a pure high-yield corporate bond fund. The fund invests in the global credits markets with investment grade credit acting as the core of the global strategy. It does have the freedom to invest into other asset classes within the fixed income credit universe. The fund is managed by an experienced team with a proven track record capable of generating good performance in both rising and falling bond markets. Robeco's Global Credits fund offers the flexibility of an integrated strategy. The fund invests in the best-of-class credits across all asset classes regardless of type or location. The flexibility of an integrated credit strategy is increasingly required as central bank policies continue to desynchronize and as different credit markets reprice securities as their economies and companies improve at different rates. Robeco uses investment strategies that can provide solid returns in both rising and falling bond markets as proven by its strong track record. The fund benefits from the ample resources at its disposal to cover the credit markets .The investment team is highly experienced and stable with clear split in responsibilities between the portfolio managers and the credit analysts. The investment process is well structured and has a disciplined approach and is based both on a top down macro outlook of the credit markets and an in depth and comprehensive bottom up fundamental credit analysis. The fund applies a total return approach with the flexibility to invest in asset classes such as securitized, high yield and emerging markets. This allocation is based on attaining the best risk reward profile for 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.