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Manulife Investments to Implement Management Fee Reductions and Other Changes

T.MFC | July 30, 2018

Canada NewsWire

TORONTO, July 30, 2018

C$ unless otherwise stated
TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC, SEHK: 945

TORONTO, July 30, 2018 /CNW/ - Manulife Investments today announced that it will make the following changes:

Make the Manulife Dollar-Cost Averaging Fund available in all Manulife Private Investment Pools
Lower the risk ratings on select funds
Reduce the management fee on select funds
Reduce the trailer fee on select funds
Adjust the distribution policy for various funds
Close one fund series & cap another fund series to all purchases

Manulife Dollar-Cost Averaging Fund to Offer Manulife Private Investment Pools

On or about August 1, 2018, Manulife Private Investment Pools will be available as an option to invest into fourteen pools/trusts through the Manulife Dollar-Cost Averaging Fund, subject to the usual conditions of the Manulife Private Investment Pools.

Lowering Risk Ratings on Select Funds

Effective on or about August 1, 2018, the risk ratings for the funds listed below, will be changed to the following:

Risk rating decreases

Funds	Current Rating	New Rating
Manulife U.S. Dollar U.S. All Cap Equity Fund	Medium to High	Medium
Manulife U.S. Opportunities Fund	Medium to High	Medium
Manulife Simplicity Moderate Portfolio	Low to Medium	Low
Manulife Yield Opportunities Fund	Low to Medium	Low
Manulife Strategic Income Fund	Low to Medium	Low
Manulife Global Fixed Income Private Trust	Low to Medium	Low
Manulife Balanced Income Private Trust	Low to Medium	Low

Management Fee Reductions

The following management fee reductions will be effective after the close of business on August 1, 2018.

Fund	Series affected	Fee reduction
Manulife Growth Portfolio	Series F and Series FT	0.10%
Manulife Fundamental Dividend Fund (formerly Manulife Canadian Dividend Income Fund)	Advisor Series and Series T	0.06%
Manulife Simplicity Balanced Portfolio	Advisor Series and Series T	0.25%
Manulife Simplicity Global Balanced Portfolio	Advisor Series and Series T	0.25%
Manulife Simplicity Growth Portfolio	Advisor Series and Series T	0.25%
Manulife Conservative Portfolio	Series F and Series FT	0.07%
Manulife Moderate Portfolio	Series F and Series FT	0.10%
Manulife Balanced Portfolio	Series F and Series FT	0.10%
Manulife U.S. Dividend Income Class	Advisor Series and Series T Series F and Series FT	0.04% 0.05%
Manulife Money Market Fund	Series N	0.05%

In addition to the above stated management fee reductions, Manulife Corporate Fixed Income Private Trust will also be reducing its fixed administration fee for all series by 0.03%.

Trailer Fee Reductions

Effective after the close of business on August 1, 2018, the following funds will reduce their trailer fees paid for Advisor Series or Series T bought under the front-end sales option. These reductions will bring the trailer fees on these funds in line with industry rates. By normalizing dealer compensation, we expect to simplify the comparing and contrasting aspect of fund selection for advisors and investors.

As indicated in the management fee reductions table above, an offsetting reduction will be made to the management fee.

Fund	Current	New
Manulife Simplicity Balanced Portfolio	1.25%	1.00%
Manulife Simplicity Global Balanced Portfolio	1.25%	1.00%
Manulife Simplicity Growth Portfolio	1.25%	1.00%

Distribution Changes

The following funds will change their distribution rate for Series FT or Series T effective on the first distribution after the close of business on August 1, 2018:

Fund Name	Current Target Distribution Rate Series FT and T	New Target Distribution Rate Series FT and T
Manulife Canadian Dividend Growth Fund	8%	6%
Manulife Canadian Dividend Growth Class	8%	6%
Manulife Fundamental Income Fund (formerly Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Fund)	8%	6%
Manulife Fundamental Income Class (formerly Manulife Canadian Monthly Income Class)	8%	6%
Manulife Global Dividend Growth Fund	8%	6%
Manulife Global Dividend Growth Class	8%	6%
Manulife Global Real Estate Unconstrained Fund	8%	6%
Manulife Simplicity Growth Portfolio	8%	6%
Manulife Tactical Income Fund	8%	6%
Manulife Simplicity Conservative Portfolio	5%	6%

As a result of those changes, Series FT or Series T will be renamed to reflect the new target distribution rate paid by the respective series (for example, Series T8 will become Series T6 on August 1, 2018).

Funds and Series Closed to All Investment

Series D of Manulife U.S. Dollar Strategic Balanced Yield Fund will be closed effective August 1, 2018. In addition, Series C of Manulife Money Market Fund will be capped effective on or about August 1, 2018. From that date, only switches-in from the Manulife Private Investment Pools will be permitted to Series C of Manulife Money Market Fund.

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 and its affiliates offer a variety of products and services including exchange traded funds, segregated fund contracts, mutual funds and guaranteed interest contracts.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. We operate primarily as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2017, we had about 35,000 employees, 73,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 26 million customers. As of March 31, 2018, we had over $1.1 trillion (US$850 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $26.9 billion in 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.