Robeco High Yield Bonds 0IH CHF

High yield bonds extended the December rally into the first two weeks of January. The strong technical support which has fueled the market suddenly stopped when investors started to react to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Equity volatility picked up, credit spreads widened and the safe heaven government bond yields tightened pretty ferociously. 10-year US Treasury yields came down to 1.51% from 1.92% at year-end. Within the US high yield market, the sectors which underperformed most were independent E&P (-3.5%) and oil field services (-1.8%) as crude oil prices fell to the lowest level in over a year. In Europe, we witnessed weakness in lodging (-1.1%) and chemicals (-1%). New issue supply surged, primary market activity totaled USD 38.5 billion in the US, one of the busiest months on record. The same elevated activity was visible in Europe, where EUR 13.2 billion of supply hit the market. Companies try to take advantage of the still favorable financing conditions, as new-issuance coupons in Europe came down to 2.20%, compared to 3.67% in 2019. The global high yield index spread widened as much as 53 bps for the month to a level of 389 bps, with an average yield of 5.09%.

All currency risks are hedged.

Robeco High Yield Bonds make use of derivatives for hedging purposes as well as for investment purposes. These derivatives are very liquid.

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.

Our analysis of issuers goes beyond the traditional financial factors and includes the issuers’ performance on ESG factors. We deem it essential for a well-informed investment decision to take into account those ESG factors that have the potential to materially impact the financial performance of the issuer. This perfectly matches the basic need to avoid the losers in credit management, as many credit events in the past can be attributed to issues such as poorly designed governance frameworks, environmental issues, or weak health & safety standards. The aim of ESG integration is to improve the risk/return profile of the investments and does not have an impact goal. ESG analysis is fully integrated in the bottom-up security analysis. We have defined key ESG factors per industry, and for every company we analyze how the firm is positioned versus these key ESG factors, and how this impacts the fundamental credit quality.

Robeco High Yield Bonds invests in corporate bonds with a sub-investment grade rating, issued primarily by US and European issuers. The portfolio is broadly diversified across circa 250 issuers, with a structural bias to the higher rated part in high yield (BB/B). Performance drivers are the top-down beta positioning as well as bottom-up issuer selection. The fund aims to outperform its index Barclays US Corporate High Yield & Pan European High Yield ex Financials 2.5% Issuer Cap. The index excludes high yield financials based on relatively high systematic risk, and applies an issuer cap to avoid concentration risk. The investment philosophy is based on managing a solid diversified portfolio with a long term view. Top-down beta positioning is based on the outcome of our credit quarterly outlook meeting, in which the team is discussing the fundamental market outlook, valuation of bond markets and market technicals. Bottom-up issuer research is executed by our credit analysts, who execute the fundamental analysis. The analysts research reports are being discussed in approx. 500 credit committees per year. In addition, a proprietary quant issuer selection model is used as an independent performance driver. The portfolio managers are responsible for the portfolio construction. A proprietary developed risk management approach avoids high risk concentration in the portfolio. Holdings in equities can only appear in the portfolio as a result of corporate actions and/or debt restructuring. It is not the intention of the portfolio manager to use options or swaptions. As the investment process is well-structured and proven over time, it contributes to repeatable performance delivery. The Robeco High Yield fund is managed by our credit team which consists of eight portfolio managers and thirteen credit analysts. Within the team, Sander Bus and Roeland Moraal are responsible for high yield. Sander has been involved in the fund since inception in 1998, Roeland joined in 2003. The portfolio managers are responsible for the construction and management of the credit portfolios, whereas the analysts cover the team's fundamental research. This share class protects investors against interest rate movements. The fund management implements this strategy by adding an overlay of highly liquid instruments to the existing base portfolio.

Risk management is fully embedded in the investment process to ensure that positions always meet predefined guidelines.