Evert Giesen is Portfolio Manager Investment Grade in the Credit team. Previously, he was an Analyst, responsible for covering the Automotive sector within the Credit team. Prior to joining Robeco in 2001, Evert worked at AEGON Asset Management for four years as a Fixed Income Portfolio Manager. He has been active in the industry since 1997 and holds a Master's in Econometrics from Tilburg University. Jan Willem Knoll is Portfolio Manager Investment Grade in the Credit team. He joined the Credit team in 2016. Previously, Jan Willem headed the Financials Equity sell-side research team at ABN AMRO. He started his career in the industry in 1999 at APG, where he held several positions including Portfolio Manager of a global insurance portfolio and subsequently a pan-European financials portfolio. Jan Willem holds a Master’s in Business Economics from the University of Groningen and he is a CFA® charterholder.

The fund is established in Luxembourg and is subject to the Luxembourg tax laws and regulations. The fund is not liable to pay any corporation, income, dividend or capital gains tax in Luxembourg. The fund is subject to an annual subscription tax ('tax d'abonnement') in Luxembourg, which amounts to 0.01% of the net asset value of the fund. This tax is included in the net asset value of the fund. The fund can in principle use the Luxembourg treaty network to partially recover any withholding tax on its income.

Investors who are not subject to (exempt from) Dutch corporate-income tax (e.g. pension funds) are not taxed on the achieved result. Investors who are subject to Dutch corporate-income tax can be taxed for the result achieved on their investment in the fund. Dutch bodies that are subject to corporate-income tax are obligated to declare interest and dividend income, as well as capital gains in their tax return. Investors residing outside the Netherlands are subject to their respective national tax regime applying to foreign investment funds. We advise individual investors to consult their financial or tax adviser about the tax consequences of an investment in this fund in their specific circumstances before deciding to invest in the fund.

Sustainability is incorporated in the investment process by the means of a target universe, exclusions, ESG integration, and a minimum allocation to ESG-labeled bonds. The fund solely invests in credits issued by companies with a positive or neutral impact on the SDGs. The impact of issuers on the SDGs is determined by applying Robeco's internally developed three-step SDG Framework. The outcome is a quantified contribution expressed as an SDG score, considering both the contribution to the SDGs (positive, neutral or negative) and the extent of this contribution (high, medium or low). In addition, the fund does not invest in credit issuers that are in breach of international norms or where activities have been deemed detrimental to society following Robeco's exclusion policy. ESG factors are integrated in the bottom-up security analysis to assess the impact of financially material ESG risk on the issuer's fundamental credit quality. Furthermore, the fund invests at least 5% in green, social, sustainable, and/or sustainability-linked bonds. Lastly, where a credit issuer is flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to exclusion.For more information please visit the sustainability-related disclosures.The index used for all sustainability visuals is based on 1/3 BB US Corp HY + Pan Euro HY ex Financials 2.5% Issuer Cap + 1/3 JPM Corp EMBI Broad Diversified Index + 1/3 BB Global Agg Corp Index.

In March, talks about US trade tariffs continued to pop up which led to growing uncertainty in financial markets. Also, in the broader economy the uncertainty starts to impact confidence and indicators for consumer confidence showed declines. Although markets became more worried about growth prospects for the US economy, there was only a moderate move in treasury yields, with the five year yields 7 bps down to 3.95%. Sentiment around the European economy was much better as Germany announced a major fiscal shift to finance defense and infrastructure spending. This led a large move upward in German Bund and a strong outperformance of European risk assets versus US markets. The Global High Yield Index rose 53 bps to 3.77% and spreads on the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporates Index rose 7 bps to 0.97%. In emerging markets, the CEMBI spread rose 12 bps to 2.65%.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was 0.21%. Total return was slightly positive in March, with duration and cash yields having positive contributions. Contribution from credit was negative however. The duration exposure of the fund contributed positively, as treasury yields declined in March. Credit markets showed negative returns in March. The fund's credit holdings did better than market indices, but overall contribution was still negative. The short position in GM contributed positively. Also, short duration carry positions such as Western Digital, DP World and Veon made positive contributions. Negative contributors were Cellnex, First Quantum and Deutsche Bank, among others.

We have seen some widening of credit spreads in March, but markets are still trading close to historical tight levels. With potential risk from the macro and geopolitical side there could be potential spikes in spreads, while the upside of spreads tightening back to previous levels is limited. With some indicators pointing to economic weakness, we continue to prefer instruments with shorter spread duration. The portfolio can continue from carry and roll down while at the same time the portfolio has some protection against widening of credit spreads. Treasury yields remain volatile. In recent weeks yields have traded down on growth concerns. As inflation continues to be above the Fed's target, the Fed will in our view be very reluctant to materially lower rates in the coming quarters. With revived growth fears, there could be a move lower in treasury yields, but we would expect a reversal when markets start to realize that the Fed has limited room to significantly lower rates at the moment.