Olaf Penninga is Portfolio Manager Quant Fixed Income. He has been Portfolio Manager for Global Dynamic Duration since 2005 (Lead portfolio manager since 2011). Furthermore, he has been the Lead Portfolio Manager of the Global Multi-Factor Bonds strategy since inception in 2019. His previous positions with Robeco include that of Lead Portfolio Manager for Robeco’s fundamentally-managed Euro Government Bonds strategy and Researcher with responsibility for fixed income allocation research. Olaf was employed by Interpolis as Investment Econometrician for one year before returning to Robeco in 2003. He started his career in 1998 at Robeco. He holds a Master's in Mathematics (cum laude) from Leiden University. Patrick Houweling is Head of Quant Fixed Income and Lead Portfolio Manager of Robeco’s quantitative credit strategies. Patrick has published seminal articles on Duration Times Spread, factor investing in credit markets, corporate bond liquidity and credit default swaps in various academic journals, including the Journal of Banking and Finance, the Journal of Empirical Finance and the Financial Analysts Journal. The article 'Factor Investing in the Corporate Bond Market' he co-authored received a Graham and Dodd Scroll Award of Excellence for 2017. Patrick is a guest lecturer at several universities. Prior to joining Robeco in 2003, he was Researcher in the Risk Management department at Rabobank International where he started his career in 1998. He holds a PhD in Finance and a Master's (cum laude) in Financial Econometrics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Lodewijk van der Linden is Portfolio Manager Quant Fixed Income. Lodewijk has published in the Journal of Asset Management on the application of CDS in portfolio management and has written on the volatility effect. He joined Robeco in August 2018. In the period 2015-2018 Lodewijk worked at Aegon Asset Management where he was Risk associate and Team Manager Client Reporting. Lodewijk started his career at PwC as an actuarial consultant in 2013. He holds a Master's in Actuarial Science from the University of Amsterdam and a Master's in Econometrics and Management Science from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

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.

The fund incorporates sustainability in the investment process via exclusions, ESG integration, ESG, SDG, and environmental footprint targets, and engagement. For investments in government bonds, the fund complies with Robeco's exclusion policy for countries and does not invest in countries where serious violations of human rights or a collapse of the governance structure take place, or if countries are subject to UN, EU or US sanctions. Via portfolio construction rules the fund targets a better ESG score and a lower carbon footprint compared to the government bonds part of the reference index. For investments in corporate bonds, 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. Via portfolio construction rules the fund targets a better ESG score, lower carbon, water and waste footprints and higher portfolio weight in companies with a positive SDG score than the corporate bonds in the reference index. This ensures that credit issuers with better ESG and SDG scores or lower environmental footprints are more likely to be included in the portfolio, and vice versa. For corporate bonds, the investment process also includes a check of buy candidates and portfolio holdings by our credit analysts for ESG risks that may have material impact for bond holders. Lastly, where corporate issuers are flagged for breaching international standards in our ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to engagement. If a company is part of Robeco’s Enhanced Engagement program, the fund will not take an overweight position in it.For more information please visit the sustainability-related disclosures.The index used for all sustainability visuals is based on Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index.

Bond yields rose in March, especially in Europe and mainly for longer-dated bonds. Short-dated yields declined in the US, Australia and Canada. Yield curves steepened everywhere. Erratic tariffs announcements hurt US consumer confidence and pushed inflation expectations up, leading to fears of stagflation. The German government announced EUR 800 bln extra defense spending and EUR 500 bln for infrastructure, triggering a 30-basis point rise in 10-year yields – the largest single-day jump since 1992. The ECB reduced its policy rate to 2.5%, while the Fed remained on hold at its March meeting. Japanese yields rose for the sixth consecutive month. US Treasuries returned 0.1%, Japanese government bonds -0.8% and German Bunds -1.9% (all returns hedged to EUR). The Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporates Index posted a credit return of -0.37%, with credit spreads widening to 97 bps.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -0.73%. The fund performed largely in line with the index over March, with all three performance drivers realizing close to neutral performance contributions. The systematic duration overlay had an underweight duration position in US bond futures and, for a part of the month, an overweight in Japanese bond futures. These positions detracted slightly. Within systematic government bond selection, the value factor performed well, while momentum and low-risk detracted. The preference for intermediate Canadian bonds over long-dated German bonds contributed positively, while the preference for long-dated UK bonds over intermediate US bonds detracted. Credit selection contributed neutrally with muted performance contributions across factors.

Robeco QI Global Multi-Factor Bonds invests systematically in predominantly investment grade credits and government bonds. It offers balanced exposure to a number of quantitative factors. The bottom-up selection of government bonds and credits aims to systematically harvest factor premiums with a risk profile that is similar to the reference index. On top of that, the fund incorporates an active duration overlay, which is based on the outcomes of our quantitative duration model.