Robeco Emerging Markets Equities D EUR

Emerging markets declined in December by 4.9% in euro terms, still performing better than the 7.6% fall for developed markets. Although inflation is starting to come down in some countries, several central banks still raised interest rates, in line with the interest rate hikes by the Fed, the ECB and the BoE. A key development in China was the big turnaround in its Covid approach, moving from a strict zero-Covid policy to basically letting go of all measures. Covid cases have risen rapidly, but the opening up should be positive for the economy. As a consequence, China was one of the better-performing countries. Other well-performing countries were Poland, Turkey and Colombia, while Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, India and the UAE were the main laggards. The worst equity market was Qatar, which did not see a positive effect from hosting the World Cup. Peru was also down significantly, following the impeachment, removal and arrest of President Castillo, after he unsuccessfully tried to dissolve parliament to avoid his impeachment.

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.