IPE Real Assets Names Manulife Investment Management a Top 50 Natural Capital Investment Manager of the Year

Recognition aligns with strong fundraising activity and new fund launch in 2025

BOSTON, Feb. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife Investment Management (Manulife IM) announced today that it has been named a leader in IPE Real Assets' list of Top 50 Natural Capital Managers.¹ The publication highlighted the strength of the firm's combined timberland and agriculture platform at €13.8B AUM, which ranked second overall, along with its long-term commitment to sustainable management practices.

The rankings also identified Manulife IM as the largest global manager of equity investments in timberland. The annual list evaluates global managers with substantial portfolios in timberland, agriculture, and related ecosystem service investments such as carbon, biodiversity, water, and regenerative land management.

"This recognition highlights the scale and operating depth of our natural capital platform, built through decades of global investment and on-the-ground execution," said Anne Valentine Andrews, Global Head of Private Markets, Manulife IM. "We've intentionally created vertically integrated teams in timberland and agriculture that are helping broaden the range of opportunities within land-based assets, which continues to resonate strongly with clients."

"Being recognized as one of the world's largest natural capital managers and the largest timberland equity manager reflects our foundational principles anchored in a commitment to sustainable stewardship, while helping to secure long-term value creation for clients," said Tom Sarno, Global Head of Timberland Investments, Manulife IM. "We celebrated four decades of leadership in the industry this past year and I am proud of our team's expertise, operational excellence, and commitment to delivering competitive returns."

"At Manulife IM, our agriculture mantra is that good stewardship is good business. IPE Real Assets' recognition of our natural capital platform underscores something we've long believed: how you manage the land is just as important as the return it generates," said Brent McGowan, Global Head of Agriculture Investments, Manulife IM. "We believe our platform reflects the confidence our investors place in our disciplined approach to building resilient, sustainable agriculture portfolios that deliver attractive, long-term results."

Additional highlights for Manulife IM's Timberland and Agriculture platform in 2025 include:

• Continued execution on the sustainable forestry strategy focused on generating positive impacts for climate, nature, and people, while seeking to deliver attractive risk-adjusted financial returns.
• Deployed 56% of the Manulife Forest Climate Fund's $480M commitments across U.S. and Australian timberland assets. These acquisitions are projected to generate 3.6M+ carbon credits, reinforcing timberland's role in climate-aligned portfolios.
• The final close of the Manulife Permanent Cropland Plus Fund for total commitment of US$289 million – among the largest agricultural fund closes last year. The fund is focused on investing in U.S. core directly operated permanent crop farmland and farmland plus investments², which combined have the potential to add value, mitigate risk, increase revenues and enhance access to additional investment opportunities. It also considers row crop farmland investments to enhance diversification, reduce volatility and provide stable cash flows.

About Manulife Wealth & Asset Management

As part of Manulife Financial Corporation, Manulife Wealth & Asset Management provides global investment, financial advice, and retirement plan services to 19 million individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Our mission is to make decisions easier and lives better by empowering people today to invest for a better tomorrow. As a committed partner to our clients and a responsible steward of investor capital, we offer a heritage of risk management, deep expertise across public and private markets, and comprehensive retirement plan services. We seek to provide better investment and impact outcomes and help people to confidently save and invest for a more secure financial future.

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Media Contact:
Gabriel Morales
(619) 203-5285
[email protected]

SOURCE Manulife Wealth & Asset Management