Manulife Mutual Funds Introduces Four New Mutual Funds

Innovative new global balanced fund among four new mutual funds 

TORONTO, Aug. 2, 2013 /CNW/ - Manulife Mutual Funds (MMF) announced the launch of four new mutual funds.

The four new mutual funds are:

• Manulife Global Balanced Fund
• Manulife U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Income Fund
• Manulife Canadian Conservative Balanced Fund
• Manulife Preferred Income Class

"We've introduced these new mutual funds to strengthen our support for advisors as they strive to meet their clients' ever evolving investment needs," said Derek Saliba, Head of Mutual Funds Product.

Key Highlights

Manulife Global Balanced Fund is managed by Greg Peterson, Director and Senior Portfolio Manager, Jim Hall, Chief Investment Officer and Paul Moroz, Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. On the equity side, the portfolio managers adopt a bottom-up brick-by-brick investment approach to identify wealth-creating companies that they believe have solid management teams but are trading at a discount to their intrinsic values. These equities are combined with global and Canadian fixed income exposure, which will be a minimum of 30 per cent of the fund. The fund is suitable for investors seeking a diversified approach to global equity and fixed income investing.

"Mawer has more than 25 years experience managing global equities, and we are pleased to offer advisors and their clients access to Mawer's core global equity strategy combined with a diversified portfolio of fixed income securities," said Saliba. "This may be an attractive way for investors to access the global equity markets with less volatility."

The new Manulife U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Income Fund is a U.S. dollar denominated version of the Manulife Floating Rate Income Fund, managed by Dennis McCafferty, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, Manulife Asset Management (US) LLC. Supporting Dennis on the fund are Joseph Rizzo, Managing Director and Head Trader, Manager Manulife Asset Management (US) LLC and John Addeo, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, Manulife Asset Management (US) LLC. The fund generates U.S. dollar income through investment in short duration, senior bank loans that periodically adjust their income as interest rates rise. This fund is suitable for investors who wish to gain exposure to this asset class by investing their U.S. dollars without risk of U.S. dollar exchange rate fluctuations. Manulife Asset Management (US) LLC manages more than US$1.5 billion in bank loans across multiple mandates and uses top-down screening methods to identify opportunities in particular industries, and rigorous bottom-up credit research within the context of the business cycle to add value on a security-by-security basis.

Manulife Canadian Conservative Balanced Fund seeks to generate income and capital appreciation primarily through exposure to a diversified portfolio of Canadian fixed income and equity securities. The fund primarily invests in Canadian corporate bonds and dividend paying equities, but also provides diversification by credit quality and moderate exposure to U.S. equities. The lead portfolio manager on the fixed income portion of the fund is Terry Carr, Senior Managing Director and Head of Canadian Fixed Income, Manulife Asset Management Limited. Jonathan Popper, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, Alan Wicks, Senior Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager, and Conrad Dabiet, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, Manulife Asset Management Limited, manage the equity portion of the fund. This is the same combination of experienced teams that manages Manulife Monthly High Income Fund/Class and Manulife Yield Opportunities Fund/Class. This fund has a conservative target asset allocation of 30 per cent equities and 70 per cent fixed income. Additionally, the fund's exposure to a broad range of yield-oriented securities makes it very suitable for investors that desire income with the potential for capital growth.

The new Manulife Preferred Income Class seeks to generate steady income and achieve capital appreciation by investing primarily in preferred shares, royalty and income trusts, and fixed income securities of Canadian companies, within the tax deferred corporate class structure. The fund is managed by Randy Le Clair, Managing Director and Senior Fixed Income Strategist, Manulife Asset Management Limited. Randy has more than 25 years of experience in fixed income markets and has covered preferred shares since 1990.

Managing this strategy, Randy actively manages credit and interest rate risk by tactically shifting between types of preferred shares throughout the market cycle. In addition, the preferred shares produce dividend income; this is one of the most tax-efficient forms of income for non-registered investors to receive from their investments and a great way to boost total returns after tax.

Available Series

Each of the four new funds are offered for sale in Advisor Series, Series F securities, Series FT securities, Series I securities, Series IT securities and Series T securities. In addition, the existing Manulife World Investment Fund will now offer Advisor Series, Series F, Series FT, Series IT and Series T securities.

For more information, please contact Manulife Customer Services at 1-888-588-7999.

About Manulife Mutual Funds

Manulife Mutual Funds, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited, builds on 125 years of Manulife Financial's wealth and investment management expertise in managing assets for Canadian investors, through a diverse portfolio of forward-thinking mutual fund products. Our experienced Portfolio Managers offer access to markets in Canada, the United States and around the world, in a range of investment styles to help meet individual needs. Manulife Mutual Funds is part of Manulife Investments, which offers personal wealth management products and services, such as mutual funds, segregated fund contracts, annuities and guaranteed interest contracts. For more information, please visit manulifemutualfunds.ca.

About Manulife Asset Management

Manulife Asset Management™ is the global asset management arm of Manulife Financial. Manulife Asset Management provides comprehensive asset management solutions for institutional investors and investment funds in key markets around the world. Manulife Asset Management also provides investment management services to its affiliates' retail clients through product offerings of Manulife and John Hancock. This investment expertise extends across a full range of asset classes including equity, fixed income and alternative investments such as real estate, timber, farmland, as well as asset allocation strategies. Manulife Asset Management has offices with full investment capabilities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. In addition, it has a joint venture asset management business in China, Manulife TEDA. It also has operations in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Uruguay. John Hancock Asset Management, Hancock Natural Resource Group and Declaration Management and Research are units of Manulife Asset Management. As at March 31, 2013, assets under management were CDN$252 billion (US$248 billion). Additional information about Manulife Asset Management can be found at www.manulifeam.com.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial is a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Clients look to Manulife for strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions. Our international network of employees, agents and distribution partners offers financial protection and wealth management products and services to millions of clients. We also provide asset management services to institutional customers. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were C$555 billion (US$547 billion) as at March 31, 2013. The Company operates as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia and primarily as John Hancock in the United States.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at manulife.com.

SOURCE: Manulife Financial Corporation