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BOSTON, Jan. 9, 2020 /CNW/ - Manulife Investment Management (Manulife) announced today the closing of approximately US$1.5 billion in commitments to Manulife Private Equity Partners, L.P. ("MPEP" or "the Fund"). MPEP is the first fund-of-funds product raised by Manulife Investment Management's Private Markets group as part of its ongoing effort to provide specialized asset management solutions for global investors.

The Fund was seeded with an existing portfolio of funds and co-investment interests in North American buyout and growth funds invested with more than 25 leading private equity managers. MPEP also includes capacity for new fund investments as well as co-investments to be managed by Manulife Investment Management's Private Markets Group. MPEP's fund investment program is led by Daniel Budde, Senior Managing Director at Manulife Investment Management.

"The investment team will utilize its significant experience, relationships and database of market intelligence to build an attractive portfolio that is consistent with the Fund's mandate," said Mr. Budde.

The Fund is backed by a global group of institutional and high net worth investors with AlpInvest Partners, a leading player in the private equity secondary market, acting as the Fund's lead investor.

Michael Hacker, Managing Director at AlpInvest Partners said, "Manulife has built a highly attractive private equity program, including relationships with some of the top managers in the North American middle-market. We appreciated the opportunity to partner with Manulife in the development of this product, including the selection of a high-quality seed portfolio."

"We have a long history of investing in private equity, and we are excited to be able to offer a fund of funds product to our clients," said Vipon Ghai, Global Head of Private Equity and Credit at Manulife Investment Management.

Steve Blewitt, Global Head of Private Markets, Manulife Investment Management added, "The Fund attracted prominent institutional and high net worth clients from Europe, North America and Asia, which demonstrates the strength of Manulife Investment Management's Private Markets platform and global reach."

Campbell Lutyens & Co. was the exclusive financial advisor for the Fund.

About Manulife Investment Management's Private Markets Platform
Manulife Investment Management's comprehensive private markets platform includes Real Estate, Private Equity and Credit, Infrastructure, Timber and Agriculture.

Through its global Private Equity and Credit team, Manulife invests in private equity funds on a primary and secondary basis, co-investments, and private credit securities (junior and senior financing) typically in collaboration with a broad array of leading general partners.

About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife Investment Management 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$854 billion (USD$652 billion) in assets under management and administration.¹ Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit our website at manulifeinvestmentmgt.com.

1 MFC financials. Global Wealth and Asset Management AUMA as of 9/30/19, was C$854 billion and includes C$195 billion of assets managed on behalf of other segments and C$140 billion of assets under administration.

About AlpInvest Partners
AlpInvest is a leading global private equity investor, with more than $42 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2019 and more than 170 employees across offices in New York, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, London, San Francisco and Indianapolis.  Since its inception, AlpInvest has invested with over 350 managers and committed approximately $68 billion across over 690 primary commitments to private equity funds, more than 135 secondary transactions and in excess of 250 equity co-investments. AlpInvest offers customized private equity investment solutions to investors through separately managed accounts and commingled funds. AlpInvest operates as a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG), a global alternative asset manager with $222 billion of assets under management and more than 1,775 employees as of September 30, 2019. For more information, please visit www.alpinvest.com.

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SOURCE Manulife Investment Management

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