Manulife Mutual Funds Wins Four Canadian Lipper 2011 Fund Awards

TORONTO, Feb. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Manulife Mutual Funds won four individual awards at the 2011 Canadian Lipper Fund Awards ceremony, held in Toronto last night.

In the Global Fixed Income category, the Manulife Strategic Income Fund Advisor series won two Lipper Awards for providing consistently strong risk-adjusted performance relative to its peers over a one and three-year time period.

In the Canadian Fixed Income Balanced category, the Manulife Structured Bond Class Advisor Series was recognized for excellence over five years, while in the Global Equity Balanced category, the Manulife Global Opportunities Balanced Fund Advisor Series was honoured for its one-year performance.

"Recognition by Lipper is a source of pride for all of us at Manulife Mutual Funds, and we congratulate our portfolio managers for their consistent performance, leadership and vision," said Paul Lorentz, President of Manulife Investments. "Our investment managers share our goal and commitment to delivering strong and consistent risk-adjusted returns for our fund shareholders."

The Manulife Strategic Income Fund is managed by Daniel S. Janis III, Thomas C. Goggins and John F. Iles of Manulife Asset Management, the asset management arm of Manulife Financial Corporation. Launched in November of 2005, the Fund has a global mandate, and invests in domestic and international corporate bonds, foreign government bonds, and Canadian and U.S. government bonds.

The Manulife Structured Bond Class is managed by Terry Carr, CFA, also of Manulife Asset Management. Primarily invested in Canadian corporate bonds and equity, and Canadian government bonds, the Fund was launched in October of 2003.

The Manulife Global Opportunities Balanced Fund is managed by Christopher Arbuthnot and Daniel Janis of Manulife Asset Management. Launched in August of 2008, it is invested primarily in international equity, corporate bonds, and U.S. and Canadian equities.

"These awards highlight the focus of our investment management teams on producing long-term value for our clients," said J-F Courville, President and CEO of Manulife Asset Management. "The entire team at Manulife Asset Management and I wish to congratulate our teams for their continued commitment and success."

The Canadian Lipper Fund Awards are awarded annually to celebrate exceptional performance throughout the professional investment community. In calculating the awards, Lipper considered all funds domiciled in Canada. Awards were given to funds with a 1, 3, 5, and 10 year history at the end of October 2010 in equity, bond and balanced Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee (CIFSC) classifications with at least 10 distinct portfolios. Both group and fund awards were calculated using Lipper's Consistent Return score, A more detailed Funds Awards Methodology may be found at: http://excellence.thomsonreuters.com/awards/lipper.

About Manulife Mutual Funds

Manulife Mutual Funds builds on more than 120 years of Manulife Financial's wealth and investment management expertise to provide Canadian investors with a diverse portfolio of forward-thinking mutual fund products. Our portfolio managers offer access to markets in Canada, United States and around the world, in a range of investment styles to help meet individual needs. Manulife Mutual Funds is a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited and part of Manulife Investments (the brand name describing certain Canadian subsidiaries and operating divisions of Manulife Financial Corporation that offers personal wealth management products and services in Canada).

About Manulife Asset Management

Manulife Asset Management™ is the global asset management arm of Manulife Financial. Manulife Asset Management and its affiliates provide comprehensive asset management solutions for institutional investors and investment funds in key markets around the world. This investment expertise extends across a broad range of asset classes including equity, fixed income and alternative investments such as real estate, timber, farmland, as well as asset allocation strategies. Manulife Asset Management has offices with full investment capabilities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In addition, it has a joint venture asset management business in China, Manulife TEDA. It also has operations in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Uruguay. As at September 30, 2010, assets under management for institutional clients were Cdn$121 billion (US$118 billion). Additional information about Manulife Asset Management can be found at ManulifeAM.com. Prior to December 15, 2010, Manulife Asset Management was known as MFC Global Investment Management.

About Manulife Financial

Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group operating in 22 countries and territories worldwide. For more than 120 years, clients have looked to Manulife for strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions. Our international network of employees, agents and distribution partners offers financial protection and wealth management products and services to millions of clients. We provide asset management services to institutional customers worldwide as well as reinsurance solutions, specializing in life and property and casualty retrocession. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$474 billion (US$460 billion) as at September 30, 2010. The Company operates as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia and primarily as John Hancock in the United States.

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

SOURCE Manulife Mutual Funds