John Hancock Mutual Funds Launches New R6 Share Class

BOSTON, Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- John Hancock Funds said that it has established a new series of R share classes for many of its mutual funds. Known as R6 shares, the class is available to all retirement plans and institutional non-retirement accounts (above $1 million). The R6 shares represent John Hancock Funds' lowest-priced share class; currently the class is available on the Frontier Trust (utilized by Ascensus), Matrix and Mid-Atlantic Trust Company trading platforms with other platforms coming online in the near future.

"Demand for share classes with greater transparency and economy in our defined contribution-investment only business has increased significantly," said Keith F. Hartstein, President & CEO, John Hancock Funds, "And so we created the R6 share class in response to Registered Investment Advisers and retirement plan sponsors who desire fund classes without 12b-1 fees or other administrative and service fees on many of our funds."

John Hancock Funds now offering R6 shares include:  John Hancock Alternative Asset Allocation Fund; John Hancock Disciplined Value and John Hancock Disciplined Value Mid Cap Funds; John Hancock Global Opportunities Fund; John Hancock Lifecycle 2010 - 2045 Portfolios; John Hancock Lifestyle Aggressive, Balanced, Conservative, Growth, and Moderate Portfolios; John Hancock Strategic Income and John Hancock Strategic Income Opportunities Funds, and others.  

For one year after the commencement of operations of Class R6 shares of the fund, certain existing investors of Class I shares who (i) own a minimum of $250,000 of Class I shares of the fund; and (ii) do not require the fund or its affiliates to make any type of administrative payments, may exchange all of their Class I shares for Class R6 shares of the fund.

Class R6 shares are offered without any sales charge and are generally made available to the following types of investors if they also meet the minimum initial investment requirement for purchases of Class R6 shares:

• Qualified 401(a) plans including 401(k) plans, Keogh plans, profit-sharing pension plans, money purchase pension plans, target benefit plans, defined benefit pension plans and Taft-Hartley multi-employer plans
• Endowment funds and foundations
• Any state, county or city, or its instrumentality, department, authority or agency
• 457 plans, including 457(a) governmental entity plans and tax-exempt plans
• Accounts registered to insurance companies, trust companies and bank trust departments
• Investment companies, both affiliated and not affiliated with the adviser
• Any entity that is considered a corporation for tax purposes, including corporate non-qualified deferred compensation plans of such corporations
• Fund trustees and other individuals who are affiliated with the fund and other John Hancock funds

For more information, please contact www.jhfundsretirement.com or 800-845-7175.  

About John Hancock Funds

The Boston-based mutual fund business unit of John Hancock Financial, John Hancock Funds manages more than $71.5 billion in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts, retirement plans and related party assets for individual and institutional investors as at June 30, 2011.  

About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial Corporation

John Hancock Financial is a unit of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 21 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and in most of Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, Manulife Financial Corporation offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. For more than 120 years, clients have looked to Manulife for strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$481 billion (US$498 billion) as at June 30, 2011.  

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

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers a broad range of financial products and services, including life insurance, fixed and variable annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at www.johnhancock.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Funds