Kempen Capital Management is an asset manager that believes in stewardship and investment focusing on the long-term for the benefit of all stakeholders. Value creation is at the heart of the services we provide to our clients. We believe that being an engaged shareholder on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and retaining a long-term focus, is critical to helping our clients to preserve and create sustainable wealth that has positive real world impact and economic returns.

Kempen wide approach to responsible investment

We are committed to create sustainable alpha. The four pillars of our ESG-policy are:

• ESG integration: Ensuring sustainability risks and opportunities are adequately considered in our investment analysis and processes.

• Exclusion & avoidance: Not investing in companies involved in controversial activities or conduct.

• Active ownership: Being responsible stewards of our clients’ capital and using our influence through engagement and voting to improve corporate behaviour on specific ESG issues and achieve positive change

• Positive impact: Investing with an objective to achieve positive real world outcomes and impact, such as contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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To put our mission and vision into practice we engage with our investee companies on a wide array of strategic, financial, and ESG topics. As an active owner we use our influence to improve our investee companies’ ESG performance.  This helps us address some of the most pressing and important sustainability issues facing business and the world. Our focus themes for engagement are: human rights, labour rights, climate change and governance.

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Through collaboration with other investors and industry think tanks we contribute to the development of principles and standards of corporate responsibility both at sector levels, as well as investee company level.

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Our full voting records are available here.

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OUR FUND APPROACH TO RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT

The investment objective of Kempen (Lux) Sustainable European Small-cap Fund is to offer investors the opportunity to invest in an actively and professionally managed portfolio of smaller listed European companies, while at the same time complying with strict exclusion and sustainability criteria.

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We strive to invest in a portfolio of companies that has a carbon intensity well below the benchmark. Furthermore, we engage with the most carbon intense companies in our portfolio in order to improve disclosure and policies that should contribute to a reduction in carbon intensity.

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Kempen’s ESG policy is implemented in our fund’s investment process by the following pillars: Exclusion, Integration and Active ownership.

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Exclusion & Avoidance

In line with the general Kempen policy, the European Sustainable Small-cap Fund excludes all companies on the KCM Exclusion- or Avoidance list.

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Companies that ‘Fail’ or are on ‘Watchlist’ marked against the criteria of the United Nations Global Compact are excluded.

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We determine a company’s ESG score (1-5) and exclude companies with a score of 1. Companies with a score of 2 are excluded on a comply or explain basis.

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The Sustainable European Small-cap Fund also excludes companies based on additional sustainability criteria as listed in the table below.

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More information on our exclusion criteria and thresholds can be found here.

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ESG integration

In the investment process we assess the ESG profile of a company. We assess each company on a case-by-case basis, taking into account material risks in a given industry in combination with the company’s respective risk exposure, practices and disclosure.

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A lower score (1-5) requires a higher return as used in our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) models. If ESG risks are deemed too severe, an investment in the company will be avoided and/or existing holdings will be sold.

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On a quarterly basis, the Kempen Responsible Investment team screens the holdings of the Kempen Sustainable European Small-cap Fund and discusses the findings with the portfolio managers.

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Active ownership: Engagement

As active investors we perform comprehensive engagements with our portfolio companies with the objective to unlock value and reduce risk.

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Our engagement process defines clear objectives of which the progress and result is tracked and well documented. If at any stage the company refuses to cooperate, divestment has to be considered.

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In the first half of 2019, we engaged with 13 companies on strategic, environmental, social and governance issues.

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Active ownership: Voting

Exercising our voting rights is also an essential part of our responsible investment philosophy. ISS provides us with voting recommendations based on our own voting and governance policy. Items are further analyzed on a case by case basis.

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Often, we inform the company about our voting intention ahead of the meeting and, where there is a recommendation to vote against management, we ask the company to clarify their viewpoints. After careful analysis, we form our own opinion and vote accordingly.

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Our full voting records are available here.

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For more information about the mid and long term risks associated with the investments:

• Prospectus
• Outlook 2020
• Asset Allocatie Outlook

^{Although Kempen Capital Management N.V.’s information providers, including without limitation, MSCI ESG Research LLC and its affiliates (the “ESG Parties”), obtain information from sources they consider reliable, none of the ESG Parties warrants or guarantees the originality, accuracy and/or completeness of any data herein. None of the ESG Parties makes any express or implied warranties of any kind, and the ESG Parties hereby expressly disclaim all warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to any data herein. None of the ESG Parties shall have any liability for any errors or omissions in connection with any data herein. Further, without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall any of the ESG Parties have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.}