Robeco Smart Mobility Z EUR

Pieter Busscher is Portfolio Manager of the Robeco Smart Materials and Robeco Smart Mobility strategies and member of the Thematic Investing team. He started at Robeco in 2007 as a Deputy Portfolio Manager for the Sustainable Water strategy. Pieter became the Portfolio Manager for Smart Materials in 2009; for Smart Mobility he had been Deputy Portfolio for since strategy launch in 2018 and took over the portfolio management responsibilities in 2021. He began his career at Credit Suisse Asset Management in Zurich in 2006. He graduated from the International Business at RSM Erasmus University (Bachelor), the Banking and Finance at the University of St. Gallen (Master) and is a CFA® charterholder. Clément Chamboulive is Co-Portfolio Manager of the Robeco Smart Mobility strategy and member of the Thematic Investing team. Prior to joining in 2021, he was at the Swiss investment firm 2Xideas, where he worked as an Equity Analyst focusing on Technology and Semiconductors. Prior to that, he founded and ran Kerra GmbH, a provider of independent research and analysis to private and public sector entities. Before that, he spent four years with Baillie Gifford as an investment analyst/manager in different segments, where he started his career in 2011. Clément holds a BSc (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh and MSc from ETH Zurich, both in Physics. Giacomo Fumagalli is Co-Portfolio Manager of the Robeco Smart Mobility strategy and member of the Thematic Investing team. Prior to joining Robeco in 2019, he worked at Lemanik SA, an investment management company located in Lugano, where he was part of the Italian equities team that managed two mutual funds mainly invested in Italian stocks. Previous to that, he worked as Junior Portfolio Manager at Credit Suisse in Milano, where he started his career in 2012, covering European equities for UHNWI discretionary mandates and was Assistant Portfolio Manager of the CS Equity Italy mutual fund. Giacomo holds a M.Sc. in Finance from Bocconi University in Milano as well as a M.Sc. in Accounting and Control from the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University). 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.

The fund's sustainable investment objective is to support the transformation and decarbonization of the global transportation sector. The transformation and decarbonization of the global transportation sector and sustainability considerations are incorporated in the investment process by the means of a target universe definition, exclusions, ESG integration, a carbon footprint target and voting. The fund only invests in companies that have a significant thematic fit as per Robeco's thematic universe methodology. Through screening on both Robeco's internally developed SDG Framework and Robeco’s exclusion policy, the fund does not invest in issuers that have a negative impact on the SDGs, are in breach of international norms or where products have been deemed controversial. Financially material ESG factors are integrated in the bottom-up fundamental investment analysis to assess existing and potential ESG risks and opportunities. The fund's weighted carbon footprint will be equal to or better than that of its Climate Transition Benchmark. In addition, where a stock issuer is flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to exclusion. Lastly, the fund makes use of shareholder rights and applies proxy voting in accordance with Robeco's proxy voting policy.The following sections display the ESG-metrics for this fund along with short descriptions. For more information please visit the sustainability-related disclosures.The index used for all sustainability visuals is based on MSCI World Index TRN.

Following Tesla's 'We, Robot' event in October, the topic of autonomous driving continued to gain momentum in November. Pony.ai listed its shares in the US, following the successful IPOs of We Ride in the US in early October and Horizon Robotics in Hong Kong later in the month. While not on public markets, majority-Alphabet-owned Waymo also closed its second external funding round at the very end of October, its largest yet at USD 5.6 billion. With autonomous driving technology now mature, this infusion of cash into the industry portends a wave of expansion of robotaxi services in the US and China, taking the technology further toward the mass market.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was 4.10%. Electric vehicle manufacturers were a highlight of the portfolio, particularly due to Tesla's performance. The strength in Tesla shares is attributed to potentially favorable policies from the Trump administration, including more supportive measures for full-self-driving (FSD) technology and possibly less stringent emission requirements. Despite continued record monthly unit sales, shares of BYD and Leapmotor paused from their strong year-to-date performance, while XPeng stock performed well due to the positive reception of its new model, the P7+. The performance of semiconductor companies was driven by idiosyncratic factors in November. Monolithic Power Systems was a particular weak spot, as the strong run in the company's shares for the past couple of years abruptly reversed on rumors that the company would lose most of its market share with NVIDIA. Conversely, shares in Ambarella, also a more specialized semiconductor company, were up over 30% in the month as the company reported quarterly earnings which suggested a rebound following a period of inventory correction, and gave an outlook for growth across both automotive and IoT end markets next year.

The underlying fundamentals (as reflected by the core themes addressed by the strategy) are very robust. Technology companies with strong and sustainable moats remain the focus of the strategy's investments. These companies focus on the development of high-voltage electric, low-voltage electronic and software-managed solutions that enable electrification, connectivity and autonomous driving. Other key enabling technologies include battery management systems, power inverters and artificial intelligence (AI). The strategy will also continue to seek exposure to the EV market as well as to companies helping to develop EV infrastructure worldwide.