Robeco QI Dynamic High Yield IH GBP

The global high yield bond spread widened by 54 bps. The European iTraxx Crossover widened by 89 bps and the US CDX High Yield by 86 bps. CDS market returns in Europe and the US were therefore similar. The global CDS index return was -3.41% and the underlying government bonds contributed -1.76% due to sharply increasing yields. Therefore, the combined return of investing in CDS indices and government bonds was -5.18% last month, strongly underperforming the -3.44% return of the high yield cash bond index. Stagflationary trends and geopolitical uncertainty weighed on markets in April. Central banks signaled rate hikes in response to continued inflation. Earnings results surprised on the upside, particularly in Europe. Cyclical sectors delivered the bulk of earnings growth, but lagged defensive sectors with respect to earnings beats. China reinstated lockdowns and mass testing in response to Covid resurgences, while infection rates continued to decline in Western countries. Russia withdrew from Kyiv and redeployed forces in the Eastern and Southern regions of Ukraine, while the West developed further sanctions.

Currency risks are hedged.

All income earned will be accumulated and not be distributed as dividend. Therefore the entire return is reflected in the share price development.

The fund is classified as falling under Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 of 27 November 2019 on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial sector.

Robeco QI Dynamic High Yield offers well-diversified exposure to US and European high yield corporates by investing in highly liquid CDS indices. These indices are much more liquid than direct investments in high yield bonds. Because of their high liquidity, investors can use these CDS indices to efficiently get high yield exposure with much lower transaction costs than through high yield bonds. The performance of Robeco QI Dynamic High Yield is driven by a unique quantitative market-timing model. This proprietary model has a track record of over 10 years. The model is based on academic research and uses a variety of factors, amongst others from credit and equity markets, to forecast credit returns. Based on this forecast, the exposure of the fund to the high yield corporate bond market will be decreased or increased. As a result, the beta of the portfolio varies between 0.5 and 1.5, to reduce risk in declining markets and to benefit more in rising markets. Robeco QI Dynamic High Yield Fund aims to offer a better return than the Bloomberg Barclays Global High Yield Corporate index. The index is used to express the benefits of the strategy as an alternative to passive or direct investments in high yield bonds. Weekly positioning updates are available upon request.

The investment strategy of the fund aims to outperform its 100% exposure to high yield corporates by taking active beta positions based on Robeco's quantitative market timing model. These active positions are set to always meet the predefined guidelines. As the investment exposure of the fund is obtained to a material degree through derivatives, it is important to manage counterparty risk. Therefore the credit quality of the counterparties is monitored and collateral is exchanged on a daily basis to reflect market movements in the value of the instruments. The predefined guidelines also restrict the leverage exposure of derivatives on a fund level and the currency exposure as described in the prospectus.