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TORONTO, Oct. 23, 2015 /CNW/ - Manulife Investments, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited, is pleased to announce that a preliminary prospectus (the "Preliminary Prospectus") for Manulife Global Healthcare Trust (the "Fund"), a closed-end investment fund, has been filed and receipted by the securities regulatory authorities of all the Canadian provinces and territories for an initial public offering (the "Offering") of Class A Units and Class U Units of the Fund (collectively, the "Units") at a price of $10.00 per Class A Unit and US$10.00 per Class U Unit.

The Fund has been created to invest in an actively managed portfolio comprised of equity securities of global healthcare companies that are developing and commercializing drugs, therapeutic solutions and/or medical devices. Manulife Asset Management Limited (the "Manager") will act as trustee, manager and investment manager of the Fund. The Fund's portfolio will be managed by Sectoral Asset Management Inc. (the "Advisor").

The Fund's investment objectives are to provide Unitholders with:

To supplement the dividend income generated by the Portfolio, the Manager has retained Sherpa Asset Management Inc. to strategically and selectively write covered call options from time to time, on securities comprising up to 25% of the value of the Fund's portfolio.

The Fund's initial Target Distribution Amount is expected to be $0.0416 per Class A Unit per month (or $0.50 per annum), and US$0.0416 per Class U Unit per month (or US$0.50 per annum), representing an initial yield on the original Unit issue price of 5.00% per annum.

Prospective purchasers who elect to pay for Units by using the Exchange Option must do so by depositing (in the form of a book-entry deposit) Exchange Eligible Securities (as outlined in the prospectus) with CST Trust Company, the Fund's agent for the Exchange Option, through CDS Clearing and Depository Services Inc. ("CDS") prior to 5:00 p.m. EST on November 24, 2015 (the "Deposit Date"). Such book-entry deposits must be made by a participant in CDS, which may have an earlier deadline for receiving instructions from their clients to deposit Exchange Eligible Securities under the Exchange Option.

The number of Units issuable for each security of an Exchange Eligible Issuer (the "Exchange Ratio") will be determined by dividing the weighted average trading price of such security on the primary exchange or market on which such security is then listed during the period of five consecutive trading days ending on December 4, 2015 (the "Pricing Period"), as adjusted to reflect distributions declared by any Exchange Eligible Issuer that will not be received by the Fund, by $10.00 in respect of the Class A Units, or US$10.00 in respect of the Class U Units, as applicable. Pursuant to this press release, the Deposit Date and Pricing Period disclosed in the Preliminary Prospectus have been extended as set forth above. The Fund will issue a press release as soon as practicable following completion of the amended Pricing Period announcing for each of the Exchange Eligible Securities, among other things, the Exchange Ratio.

The offering is being conducted by a syndicate of Agents co-led by RBC Capital Markets and CIBC, and that includes BMO Capital Markets, National Bank Financial Inc., Scotiabank, TD Securities Inc., GMP Securities L.P., Manulife Securities Incorporated, Raymond James Ltd., Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Desjardins Securities Inc.

A Preliminary Prospectus containing important information relating to these securities has been filed with securities commissions or similar authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada. The Preliminary Prospectus is still subject to completion or amendment. Copies of the Preliminary Prospectus may be obtained from one of the dealers noted above. There will not be any sale or any acceptance of an offer to buy the securities until a receipt for the final prospectus has been issued.

All capitalized terms noted herein but not defined are as defined in the Preliminary Prospectus.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Fund's securities set out herein in the United States.

For more information, please contact Manulife Customer Service at 1-888-333-3240.

About Manulife Investments
Manulife Investments, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited, builds on 125 years of Manulife's wealth and investment management expertise in managing assets for Canadian investors. As one of Canada's leading integrated financial services providers, Manulife Investments offers a variety of products and services including segregated fund contracts, mutual funds, annuities and guaranteed interest contracts.

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group providing forward-thinking solutions to help people with their big financial decisions. We operate as John Hancock in the United States, and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2014, we had 28,000 employees, 58,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving 20 million customers. At the end of June 2015, we had $883 billion (US$708 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made more than $22 billion in benefits, interest and other payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.  Follow Manulife on Twitter @ManulifeNews or visit www.manulife.com or www.johnhancock.com.

About Sectoral
Sectoral Asset Management is an investment boutique exclusively focused on the global healthcare sector and 100% employee owned. The company manages public and private equity healthcare strategies for investors around the world. Clients include leading global pension plans, private banks, family offices and long-standing sub-advisory relationships with institutional investors in Europe, North America and Asia. Sectoral is Canada's largest dedicated healthcare manager and has one of the world's longest track records in managing biotech equities. Founded in 2000, Sectoral maintains offices in Montreal, Geneva, Hong Kong.

Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions "expect", "intend", "will" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Fund, the Manager and/or the Advisor. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the Fund's, the Manager's and/or the Advisor's current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Although the Fund, the Manager and/or the Advisor believe that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Fund, the Manager and/or the Advisor undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law. 

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation