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TORONTO, Jan. 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Manulife Investments today announced that Susan Da Sie will assume key portfolio management responsibilities for the Manulife Asset Management Canadian Fundamental Equity Team's income-oriented strategies. In addition, Manulife Investments announced that Walter McCormick will be retiring from the Manulife U.S. Core Value Equity Team.

Changes to Canadian Fundamental Equity Team

Susan Da Sie, Senior Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager will assume portfolio management responsibilities for the following funds:

• Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Fund (formerly known as Standard Life Monthly Income Fund)
• Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Class (formerly known as Standard Life Monthly Income Class)
• Manulife Conservative Income Fund (formerly known as Standard Life Diversified Income Fund)
• Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Fund (formerly known as Standard Life Dividend Income Fund)
• Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Class (formerly known as Standard Life Dividend Income Class)
• Manulife Canadian Dividend Growth Fund (formerly known as Standard Life Canadian Dividend Growth Fund)
• Manulife Canadian Dividend Growth Class (formerly known as Standard Life Canadian Dividend Growth Class)
• Manulife Tactical Income Fund (formerly known as Standard Life Tactical Income Fund)
• Manulife Canadian Growth & Income Private Trust

Ms. Da Sie will succeed Marie-Eve Savard who has indicated her desire to leave the company.  Ms. Savard will remain with the company until the end of February to ensure a smooth transition of her portfolio management responsibilities to Ms. Da Sie. The investment philosophy of the funds will not change.

"We would like to thank Marie-Eve for the dedication and high degree of professionalism she has brought to her team and to her mandate," said Derek Saliba, Assistant Vice President, Mutual Funds Product, Manulife Investments. "Susan's experience leading this team and her previous role as head of the equity team at the former Standard Life Investments Inc. will ensure a smooth transition for all involved."

Ms. Da Sie will partner with Steven Belisle, Senior Portfolio Manager, Equities who currently co-manages these funds. Mr. Belisle has a proven track record of managing Canadian income-oriented equities as the lead manager on the 5-star Overall Morningstar rated Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Fund.

Ms. Da Sie joined Manulife Asset Management when Standard Life's Canadian operations were acquired by Manulife in January 2015. Ms. Da Sie joined the former Standard Life Investments Inc. in 2007 as a Vice-President with the Equity Team, and has 31 years of investment experience. 

The fixed income portion of Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Fund, Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Class, Manulife Conservative Income Fund and Manulife Tactical Income Fund will continue to be managed by Jean-Pierre D'Agnillo , Managing Director, Canadian Fixed Income and Terry Carr, Head of Canadian Fixed Income.

Walter McCormick Retirement

Manulife Investments also announced that Walter McCormick, Senior Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager, Manulife Asset Management (US) LLC, will be retiring. The effective date will be March 31, 2016.

Walter McCormick joined Manulife Asset Management in 2010.

"Walter has co-led the Manulife Asset Management U.S. Core Value Equity Team with Sandy Sanders and has delivered strong returns for our investors," said Chris Conkey, Global Chief Investment Officer, Manulife Asset Management. "We anticipate a seamless transition given the depth of the team's experience."

The Manulife U.S. Core Value Equity team currently consists of six experienced portfolio managers and three analysts. This well-resourced team employs a repeatable fundamental investment process that has delivered consistent long-term results over various market cycles since inception. Mr. McCormick is co-manager of the following funds along with Sandy Sanders, Senior Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager, Manulife Asset Management (US) LLC. Once Mr. McCormick retires, Mr. Sanders will continue as lead manager of the funds.

• Manulife Balanced Equity Private Pool
• Manulife Strategic Balanced Yield Fund
• Manulife U.S. All Cap Equity Fund
• Manulife U.S. All Cap Equity Class
• Manulife U.S. Balanced Private Trust
• Manulife U.S. Dollar U.S. All Cap Equity Fund
• Manulife U.S. Dollar Strategic Balanced Yield Fund
• Manulife U.S. Equity Private Pool
• Manulife U.S. Large Cap Equity Class
• Manulife U.S. Large Cap Equity Fund

"Walter has had an exceptional career, and we wish him all the best in his retirement," said Derek Saliba. "Walter helped us forge this team and their funds into one of the key brands of our mutual fund business and the team's success will continue given Sandy's proven leadership and the team's high standards."

Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Fund

The Morningstar Rating, commonly referred to as the Star Rating, relates how a fund has performed on a risk-adjusted basis against its Morningstar category peers and is subject to change every month. Funds are ranked by their Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return scores with the top 10% of funds in a category receiving 5 stars, the top 22.5% receiving 4 stars. The Overall Star Rating for a fund is a weighted combination of its 3, 5 and 10 year ratings. Overall ratings are adjusted where a fund has less than 5 or 10 years of history. Please refer to www.morningstar.ca for greater detail on the calculation of the Star Ratings.

© 2015 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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 Asset Management

Manulife Asset Management is the global asset management arm of Manulife, providing comprehensive asset management solutions for investors. This investment expertise extends across a broad range of public and private asset classes, as well as asset allocation solutions. As at September 30, 2015, assets under management for Manulife Asset Management were approximately C$393 billion (US$294 billion).

Manulife Asset Management's public markets units have investment expertise across a broad range of asset classes including public equity and fixed income, and asset allocation strategies.  Offices with full investment capabilities are located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In addition, Manulife Asset Management has a joint venture asset management business in China, Manulife TEDA. The public markets units of Manulife Asset Management also provide investment management services to affiliates' retail clients through product offerings of Manulife and John Hancock. John Hancock Asset Management and Declaration Management and Research are units of Manulife Asset Management.

Additional information about Manulife Asset Management may be found at ManulifeAM.com.

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 September 2015, we had $888 billion (US$663 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made more than $23 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.

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation