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TORONTO, April 16, 2018 /CNW/ - Manulife Investments today announced changes to the portfolio management team for the Manulife Global Equity Unconstrained Fund and the Manulife Global Equity Unconstrained Class. Co-portfolio manager on these funds, Jaime Ramos Martin, has decided to leave Standard Life Investments (USA) Limited (now doing business as Aberdeen Standard Investments) to pursue other opportunities. Donal Reynolds, Senior Vice President - Global Equity, will be the portfolio manager on the funds effective immediately.

In addition, Kevin Troup and Ross Mathison, co-portfolio managers of the Manulife Global Dividend Growth Fund and Manulife Global Dividend Growth Class have decided to retire/pursue other opportunities respectively.  Portfolio managers Dominic Byrne, Investment Director - Deputy Head Global Equity, and Donal Reynolds will be replacing them effective immediately. Dominic and Donal are both seasoned professionals, each with 17 years' experience in the industry. Both come from Standard Life Investments prior to its merger with Aberdeen Asset Management PLC in August of last year; each of them have been with the firm for 17 and 11 years respectively.

The investment thesis of all four funds remains the same.

Stephen Docherty, Aberdeen Standard Investments' Head of Global Equities and Dominic Byrne, Aberdeen Standard Investments' Deputy Head of Global Equities have sought to expand the team, enhance resources and ensure continuity in investment approaches. As part of this program, three individuals have been added to the Global Equity Team led by Dominic. Joanna McIntyre, Tony Hood and Euan Sanderson will be joining from the Aberdeen Standard Investments' regional teams. From an investment perspective, Dominic leads the team responsible for the Focus on Change investment approach for the Manulife Global Equity Unconstrained Fund, Manulife Global Equity Unconstrained Class, Manulife Global Dividend Growth Fund and Manulife Global Dividend Growth Class. Aberdeen Standard Investments expects to complete the integration of the Global Equity Team in the second quarter of 2018. Pending a further announcement of the structure of their equity division, Manulife Investments continues to evaluate as developments unfold.

About Manulife Investments

Manulife Investments, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited, builds on 130 years of Manulife's wealth and investment management expertise in managing assets for Canadian investors. As one of Canada's leading integrated financial services providers, Manulife Investments and its affiliates offer a variety of products and services including exchange traded funds, segregated fund contracts, mutual funds, annuities and guaranteed interest contracts.

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 primarily 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 2017, we had approximately 34,000 employees, 73,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 26 million customers. As of December 31, 2017, we had over $1.04 trillion (US$829.4 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 Financial Corporation

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