Manulife Investment Management Launches New Secondary Investment Business

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Oct 21, 2019, 07:00 ET

TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC
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New secondaries investment capability part of Manulife's strategy to expand its Private Markets investment platform
Veteran secondary market advisors and investors Jeff Hammer and Paul Sanabria hired as Global Co-Heads of Secondaries

BOSTON, Oct. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife Investment Management ("Manulife") today announced the launch of a new secondary investment business within its Private Markets group and has appointed Jeff Hammer and Paul Sanabria to serve as Global Co-Heads of this business.

The Secondaries capability is part of Manulife's strategy to expand its comprehensive Private Markets platform, which includes Private Equity and Credit, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Timber and Agriculture.

Mr. Hammer and Mr. Sanabria are expected to build a global secondary investment capability that focuses on general partner-led and special situation transactions, and partners with private equity, private credit and secondary fund sponsors. The new business will serve the increasingly complex liquidity needs of private capital markets, and is anticipated to invest in solution-oriented opportunities as well as more traditional secondary transactions. Mr. Hammer and Mr. Sanabria expect to harness Manulife's track record as a collaborative investor and long-time fund allocator to lead, participate in and invest in transactions with general partners.

Mr. Hammer and Mr. Sanabria, who have worked together for over 20 years, will draw upon their experience, creativity and problem-solving capabilities developed as both secondary advisors and investors. Over the past 10 years at Houlihan Lokey, they built and led a market-leading secondary advisory business that executed over $15b USD of private equity, private credit and other esoteric asset transactions. Previously at Bear Stearns Asset Management, they built and led Private Equity Advisors, a private equity investment group that invested balance sheet and third-party capital into a cross-section of primary, secondary and co-investment transactions with AUM of $2.1b USD prior to their departure.

Manulife, through its global Private Equity and Credit group, invests in private equity funds, co-investments and private credit securities (junior and senior financing) typically in collaboration with a broad array of leading general partners. Current Private Equity and Credit assets under management are $6.5b USD on behalf of third-party clients and Manulife's General Account as at June 30, 2019¹.

Mr. Hammer and Mr. Sanabria will build a global team headquartered in New York. The new team is an important initiative for Manulife and will begin investing immediately on behalf of Manulife's General Account, while contributing to the development of specialized secondary funds, separately managed accounts and other investment products for Manulife Investment Management's global institutional client base.

Stephen Blewitt, Global Head of Private Markets, commented: "The secondary market's rapid growth presents a significant opportunity for Manulife Investment Management and our institutional clients. I am delighted that Paul and Jeff, who have decades of experience and deep relationships in the secondaries market, will lead this business."

Vipon Ghai, Global Head of Private Equity and Credit, said: "The addition of this Secondaries investment business complements and expands Manulife Investment Management's existing investment capabilities. It builds on the strength of our existing GP relationships, where we have established a highly collaborative approach."

Paul Sanabria, Global Co-Head of Secondaries, said: "I am excited by the opportunity to build Manulife Investment Management's strategic Secondaries business with my long-standing professional partner, Jeff Hammer. Manulife's commitment to grow the range of private asset solutions for investors, its stellar reputation and global footprint can provide us with a formidable platform to establish a world-class capability."

Jeff Hammer, Global Co-Head of Secondaries, added: "Our broad and deep experience developing solutions for complex and illiquid assets, coupled with Manulife Investment Management's scale and distribution through its global wealth and asset management business lines, I believe will enable us to create value for Manulife's key stakeholders including GP partners, third-party investors, and Manulife's General Account."

Biographies

Paul Sanabria
Mr. Sanabria is a Senior Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Secondaries at Manulife Investment Management. Mr. Sanabria has more than 19 years of experience in principal investing and investment banking, and nine years as a management consultant. He spent the past ten years as Co-Head of Houlihan Lokey's Illiquid Financial Assets practice, a unit he co-founded and built into the leading investment group focused on customized transactions for holders of illiquid securities.

Mr. Sanabria was previously a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns & Co., where he acquired and led the Private Funds Group responsible for originating new third-party fundraising mandates. In addition, he founded and co-led the private equity fund and secondary investing unit with aggregate AUM over $2b.

Earlier, Mr. Sanabria was co-founder of BDC Financial Inc., a firm that provided customized private equity investment management and advisory services to institutional and high-net-worth investors, which was sold to Bear Stearns.

Mr. Sanabria received a B.S. from California State University at Sacramento and an MBA from Harvard University.

Jeff Hammer
Mr. Hammer is a Senior Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Secondaries at Manulife Investment Management. He has more than three decades of experience in principal investing, investment banking, and building businesses in the private markets. He spent the past ten years as Co-Head of Houlihan Lokey's Illiquid Financial Assets practice, a unit he co-founded and built into the leading investment banking group focused on customized transactions for holders of illiquid securities.

Mr. Hammer was previously a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns & Co., where he founded, built and co-led Private Equity Advisors, the private equity fund-of-funds and secondary investing unit of Bear Stearns Asset Management. In this position, Mr. Hammer developed and managed several secondary-focused private equity investment management programs that had an aggregate AUM over $2b. Mr. Hammer also served as the Global Head of Origination for the Private Funds Group upon its acquisition into Bear Stearns Asset Management.

Mr. Hammer co-founded BDC Financial Inc., a firm that provided customized private equity investment management and advisory services to institutional and high-net-worth investors, which was sold to Bear Stearns.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Hammer held investment banking positions at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Mr. Hammer received an A.B. from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard University.

About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife Investment Management¹ 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, 2019². Not all offerings available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit our website at manulifeinvestmentmgt.com.

¹Manulife Investment Management's public and private asset management business is comprised of several affiliated investment advisers, including Manulife Investment Management, which manages public markets investments on behalf of affiliated and unaffiliated businesses including Manulife's General Account, and Hancock Capital Investment Management, which manages private asset investments on behalf of third-party clients.

² 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.

SOURCE Manulife Investment Management