Manulife Investment Management to implement changes to its mutual fund platform
September 16, 2019
TORONTO – Manulife Investment Management today announced that it will make the following changes effective on or about October 21, 2019:
Changes to Manulife Fundamental Equity Class
Introduction of a two-year deferred sales charge option
Changes to Manulife Fundamental Equity Class
Investment strategy change
Lowering management fees
Change of fund name
Effective on or about October 21, 2019, Manulife Fundamental Equity Class will undergo an investment strategy change, increasing the minimum Canadian content in the fund from 51% to 90%. The change in strategy aims to provide investors exposure to a portfolio of predominately high-quality large cap Canadian equities. The change in strategy will closer align it in portfolio composition to Manulife Canadian Equity Private Pool, also managed by Patrick Blais, head of the Manulife Fundamental Equity Team.
Fund Name
Series
Existing Management Fee
New Management Fee
Percentage Change
Manulife Fundamental Equity Class
Advisor Series
1.81%
1.68%
-7.2%
Series T
1.78%
1.68%
-5.6%
Series F & Series FT
0.77%
0.68%
-11.7%
Current Fund Name
New Fund Name
Manulife Fundamental Equity Class
Manulife Canadian Equity Class
The reduction in management fees will have a corresponding impact on the management expense ratio of the funds over time.
Introduction of a two-year deferred sales charge option
Effective on or about October 21, 2019, Manulife Investment Management will introduce a new sales charge option called Low-Load 2, available on most of its mutual funds. This development is a result of the evolving needs of advisors/planners to have access to a shorter version of the traditional Low Load which has a 3-year redemption schedule.
About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than 150 years of financial stewardship to partner with clients across our institutional, retail, and retirement businesses globally. Our specialist approach to money management includes the highly differentiated strategies of our fixed-income, specialized equity, multi-asset solutions, and private markets teams—along with access to specialized, unaffiliated asset managers from around the world through our multimanager model. Our personalized, data-driven approach to retirement is focused on delivering financial wellness in retirement plans of all sizes to help plan participants and members retire with dignity.
Headquartered in Toronto, we operate as Manulife Investment Management throughout the world, with the exception of the United States, where the retail and retirement businesses operate as John Hancock Investment Management and John Hancock, respectively; and in Asia and Canada, where the retirement business operates as Manulife. Manulife Investment Management had C$844 billion (USD $645 billion) in assets under management and administration as of June 30, 20191. Not all offerings available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit our website at manulifeinvestmentmgt.com.
1. Source: MFC financials. Global Wealth and Asset Management AUMA at June 30, 2019 was C$844 billion and includes C$191 billion of assets managed on behalf of other segments and C$136 billion of assets under administration.
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 2018, we had more than 34,000 employees, over 82,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving almost 28 million customers. As of June 30, 2019, we had over $1.1 trillion (US$877 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $29.4 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States are 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.
