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TORONTO , Sept. 18, 2018 /CNW/ - Manulife Investments announced today several changes to its mutual fund platform. In an effort to streamline and improve the experience for investors and advisors, Manulife Investments will make the following changes:

• Modify the investment strategies of select funds
• Change the names of certain funds
• Close a fund to new purchases
• Re-open an existing capped fund to new purchases

Changes Effective on or about September 25^th, 2018

• Manulife Global Equity Unconstrained Fund and Manulife Global Equity Unconstrained Class will change their names to Manulife Global Franchise Fund and Manulife Global Franchise Class respectively.

Changes Effective on or about October 4^th, 2018

• Manulife Strategic Dividend Bundle will undergo a strategy change by incorporating Manulife Dividend Income Plus Fund and Manulife Global Unconstrained Bond Fund into the portfolio. While still maintaining a balanced fund profile of 60% Equities and 40% Fixed Income, the target underlying allocations will be the following:
• 40% Manulife Dividend Income Fund
• 20% Manulife Dividend Income Plus Fund
• 30% Manulife Strategic Income Fund
• 10% Manulife Global Unconstrained Bond Fund

 "As we enter a market environment that may be characterized by more modest growth in equity markets, where interest rates continue to rise, the addition of these strategies has the potential to improve the risk/reward characteristics of the Manulife Strategic Dividend Bundle," said James Robertson, Head of Asset Allocation, Canada, Senior Portfolio Manager, Manulife Asset Management.  

Changes Effective on or about October 31^st, 2018

  As announced August 2^nd, 2018 sub-advisory responsibilities for Manulife International Value   
  Equity Fund and Manulife International Focused Fund will transition from Manulife Asset
  Management (US) LLC to Pictet Asset Management Limited effective on or about October 31^st,
  2018. In connection with this transition the following will also take place on this date:

• Investment strategies for both mandates will be aligned to reflect the investment approach used by Pictet Asset Management Limited.
• Manulife International Focused Fund will be re-opened to new investors. The Fund was proactively capped to all new purchases on January 25^th, 2016 as part of a business decision related to the integration with Standard Life.
• Manulife International Focused Fund will change its name to Manulife EAFE Equity Fund.
• Manulife International Value Equity Fund will be capped to all new purchases.

About Manulife Investments

Manulife Investments, a division of Manulife Asset Management Limited, builds on 125 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 and guaranteed interest contracts.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. 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 about 35,000 employees, 73,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 26 million customers. As of June 30, 2018, we had over $1.1 trillion (US$849 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $27.6 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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