Robeco Sustainable Property Equities I GBP

Although a pick-up in infections stemming from the Delta variant is threatening the global recovery, Covid-19 vaccines are being rolled out and forecasts for economic growth and inflation are rising. Despite being accompanied by rising interest rates, the property sector returned 18.8% and has performed 2.2% better than general equities. History has shown that REITs can perform well in an environment of rising inflation rates. In the past, real estate stocks performed well in periods where inflation was in the 2%-3.5% range, both in absolute terms and in relative terms. Sectors and individual stocks can perform differently, depending to a large extent on the type of inflation and the impact it has on the bottom line. Rental income is often dependent on the type of rent structures, which are often linked to inflationary measures such as the CPI. Furthermore, real estate is a capital-intensive sector, which is less impacted by inflation versus margin-return oriented industries.

The fund can engage in currency hedging transactions.

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.

Robeco Sustainable Property Equities integrates ESG at every stage of the investment process. We use sustainability performance rankings as a first indication of a company’s sustainability profile. In addition we use it to exclude the worst 20% scoring stocks from the investable universe. We then analyze the impact of financially material ESG factors to a company’s competitive position and value drivers. We believe that this enhances our ability to understand existing and potential risks and opportunities of a company. If ESG risks and opportunities are significant, the ESG analysis may impact a stock’s fair value and the portfolio allocation decision. Throughout the investment process, we strive for a low environmental impact, as measured by GHG emissions, water use and waste generation, with the aim of realizing at least 20% better levels than the index. In addition to ESG integration, Robeco’s dedicated active ownership team conducts proxy voting and engagement activities focused on specific themes, such as climate change, aiming to improve a company’s sustainability profile. Furthermore, the fund will not invest in companies exposed to the following controversial sectors or business practices, including military contracting, controversial weapons, fire arms, UN Global Compact breaches, tobacco, palm oil, nuclear power, thermal coal, arctic drilling and oil sands, according to strict revenue thresholds.

Robeco Sustainable Property Equities is an actively managed fund investing in equities from developed countries around the world. The selection of these stocks is based on a fundamental analysis. The fund's objective is to achieve a better return than the index. The fund aims for a better sustainability profile compared to the Benchmark by promoting certain ESG (i.e. Environmental, Social and corporate Governance) characteristics within the meaning of Article 8 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and integrating ESG and sustainability risks in the investment process. In addition, the fund applies an exclusion list on the basis of controversial behavior, products (including controversial weapons, tobacco, palm oil and fossil fuel) and countries, while avoiding investment in thermal coal, weapons, military contracting and companies that severely violate labor conditions, next to proxy voting and engagement. The fund also aims for an improved environmental footprint compared to the Benchmark.This fund is the first to identify strong global trends in the real estate sector. Within these trends, this fund focuses on companies with the best prospects in the sector. The fund managers use carefully developed models to choose stocks with good earnings expectations and reasonable valuation. The fund aims at selecting stocks with relatively low environmental footprints compared to stocks with high environmental footprints. The investment policy is not constrained by a benchmark but the fund may use a benchmark for comparison purposes. 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 issuer, country and sector weightings of the Benchmark. There are no restrictions on the deviation from 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.