Manulife Asset Management Posts CAD$8.0 Billion Gross, CAD$3.9 Billion Net Institutional Sales Globally in First Half of 2017

- Assets under management reached CAD$480 billion as of June 30, 2017, up 10 percent over June 30, 2016

- Strong long-term performance across most asset classes

- Senior appointments demonstrate commitment to investment excellence  

- Thought leadership provides context for investors amid policy uncertainty and concerns about market valuation

TORONTO and BOSTON, Sept. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Manulife Asset Management, the investment management arm of Manulife (TSX, NYSE: MFC), generated CAD$8.0 (US$6.0) billion gross and CAD$3.9 (US$2.9) billion net in institutional new sales globally in the first half of 2017.¹

Assets managed by Manulife Asset Management reached CAD$480 (US$370) billion as of June 30, 2017.² Institutional assets managed by Manulife Asset Management reached CAD$89 (US$69) billion at June 30, 2017, over 15 percent higher than a year ago.

"The firm is focused on high-value activities that matter to clients," said Warren A. Thomson, Chairman of Manulife Asset Management. "We remain committed to bringing them the right solutions, leveraging our range of capabilities across our global platform."

At June 30, 2017, funds managed by Manulife Asset Management had 124 Four- or Five-Star Morningstar rated funds,³ an increase of 26 funds since June 30, 2016.

The firm continued to provide investors globally with strong investment results with over 70 per cent of asset classes outperforming their benchmarks on a 1- and 3-year basis, and almost 80 per cent of asset classes outperforming benchmarks on 5-year basis.⁴

New mandates year-to-date include:

• US$625 million funded in a custom LDI mandate from a Canadian corporation.
• Awarded US$600 million in Taiwan and Indonesia Fixed Income from a Taiwanese corporation.
• US$545 million funded in US Core Plus Fixed Income across five Outsourced Chief Investment Officer mandates in Canada.
• US$497 million funded in Strategic Fixed Income Opportunities from a US corporation.
• US$488 million funded in US Core Fixed Income from a US public fund.
• Awarded US$300 million in a Discretionary Buy and Hold US Investment Grade Bond.
• US separately managed account gross sales of over US$639 million.

New market entries

Manulife Asset Management is now licensed to sell a range of six actively-managed UCITS funds in Germany and Austria, in addition to Italy and the UK. The funds aim to offer discretionary fund buyers, family offices, pension funds, and insurance companies exposure to global, Asian, and emerging markets opportunities. The funds are designed to generate diversified, risk-adjusted returns that may address the challenges of low yields, low growth, and correlations between asset classes.

Real Estate

Also in the first half of the year, the Singapore-listed Manulife US REIT had an additional capital raise to purchase a fourth property, its first direct-from-market purchase, for US$115 million. The 11-storey, Class A office building is located in Secaucus, New Jersey, approximately three miles west of New York City. The acquisition boosts the REIT's total portfolio valuation by 13.9 per cent to US$950.2 million.⁵

Senior Appointments

In the first half of 2017, Manulife Asset Management announced the following:

• Greg Spafford was named Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager, Manulife Canadian Pooled Real Estate Fund. He is responsible for fund strategy, acquisitions, execution and overall portfolio management of the fund.
• Chris Chapman was named Portfolio Manager, Global Multi Sector Fixed Income team. His promotion adds to the team's investment decision-making coverage of sterling and euro markets, given his location in London.
• Grant Peterkin, Senior Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager; Paul Oliver, Senior Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager; and David Rule, Director, Portfolio Manager have recently joined the firm in Europe to help expand the firm's liquid alternative capabilities under Chris Fellingham, Head of Liquid Alternative Strategies, who joined last year.
• More recently, in August Peter Azzinaro was named Global Macro Strategist, Global Multi-Sector Fixed Income Team. He supports the portfolio management team on a day-to-day basis by using economic and financial analysis to make observations on financial markets, central bank policies, and geopolitical situations and make recommendations within credit, currency, and interest rate markets.

Thought Leadership

Megan Greene, Manulife Asset Management's Chief Economist, wrote about the possibility of a US Border Adjustment Tax. In this piece, she examined the significant difference between the theory and practice of such a tax. She noted that actual implementation could be difficult and the tax might weigh on US and global growth.

John Addeo, Senior Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager & CIO US Fixed Income, talks about complacency in Are Markets Complacent: Thoughts on Risks and Valuation.  In this piece, Mr. Addeo discusses fears of complacency that some commenters have expressed and proposes that the current unease is more centered around valuation.

Bob Boyda, Co-Head of Asset Allocation Manulife Asset Management, authored "Goldilocks And The "Spectacular Six," part of June's Global Intelligence report. Mr. Boyda warned of a potentially bumpy market in the second half and argued that the remarkable performance of six technology companies may have given the impression that markets are doing much better than they are.

Frances Donald, Manulife Asset Management's Senior Economist, authored the Canada Playbook 2017. Canada's economy is in the midst of a complex, lengthy adjustment following the 2014-2016 collapse in energy prices and the resulting economic shocks that permeated throughout the broader economy. The playbook serves as a framework for how to think about this multi-faceted adjustment over the year.

About Manulife Asset Management

Manulife Asset Management is the global asset management arm of Manulife Financial Corporation ("Manulife"). We provide comprehensive asset management solutions for investors across a broad range of public and private asset classes, as well as asset allocation solutions. We also provide portfolio management for affiliated retail Manulife and John Hancock product offerings.

Our investment solutions include public and private equities and fixed income, timberland, farmland, real estate, power and infrastructure, oil and gas, renewable energy, and mezzanine debt. We operate in the United States, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, as well as through a China joint venture, Manulife TEDA. We also serve investors in select European, Middle Eastern and Latin American markets.

As at June 30, 2017, assets under management for Manulife Asset Management were approximately C$480 billion (US$370 billion, GBP£285 billion, EUR€324 billion). Additional information may be found at ManulifeAM.com.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people achieve their dreams and aspirations by putting customers' needs first and providing the right advice and solutions. We operate 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 2016, we had approximately 35,000 employees, 70,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 22 million customers. As of June 30, 2017, we had over $1 trillion (US$780 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $26.7 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.

SOURCE Manulife Asset Management